Tales of Evil
by Dr.Bob
Summary: A series of DecusxAlice Oneshots related or not with the game events.
1. Verzweiflung

**- As a defense for my grammatical errors I'll say that English it's not my first language.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World_.

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Verzweiflung

Alice stayed sat in Decus's chambers while he was vomiting in the bathroom. Normally, she would have left his rooms without caring very much about his sickness, but this time the reasons for his malady didn't appear to be due to a normal disease. Even if she hated to admit it, she was beginning to feel worried.

Day after day, she was seeing how her childhood friend was going from bad to worse, not only because of his continuous headaches, but also because he had become much more violent. In the beginning, it didn't seem to be very serious. She had even liked that new side of Decus, which was more aggressive and impetuous and it seemed a change for the best. Sure, he began to attack his own soldiers without apparent reasons but Alice didn't give it a lot of importance. Not until one day, in Meltokio, when he had ignored her words. That day, Alice noticed that something was wrong with Decus.

Quickly, she sent Decus to several medical examinations. But all the results were negative, and all the physicians agreed in their analysis. Decus was in perfect shape and completely healthy.

"Aaaa-aaa-aah!" Alice was able to hear Decus's moans in the bathroom.

At this point it was clear that the doctors were wrong, and something was making her suspect that all the symptoms were related to Solum's core.

"Hmmm…I…I feel better now," Decus said as he came and sat on the mattress beside Alice.

"You don't look OK to me."

He was unrecognizable in Alice's eyes. His face was paler than usual and his eyes didn't shine with joy and unconditional love when he looked at her.

"Lately, to tell you the truth, I haven't felt very well."

"Have you gone to take the analysis tests?"

"Thanks for caring. But the results, as always, are negative."

"I don't care!" Alice declared, "I just don't want you to die now that I've lost almost all of my pets!"

An uncomfortable silence filled the room a few seconds. Decus broke it.

"Can I…can I ask you a favor?" He was touching himself, as if he was searching for something lost in his body.

"A favor? Since when do I do favors for _anyone_?"

"C'mon…it isn't…it's nothing," Decus said while he scratched himself.

"You already know that the answer: No!" Alice looked away. She didn't like how Decus was looking at her. His eyes were no longer looking at her as if she was a goddess.

Decus kneeled down and began to beg. "Pl-please…I just want you to go with Brute and get me a moment with Solum's core."

"What?" Alice was confused by his petition. Normally she was the center of his attention. His universe was Alice-centric. Since when had that changed?

"I just…I just want to touch it for a moment…" Decus began to smile. "I swear that if you bring it to me, I'll return it to you very quickly. I'll be just a moment…OK?"

"No!" Alice got up and went toward the door.

Decus got up abruptly and said "How can you say that to me!? After all I've done for you!"

Alice then felt two hands grab her shoulders firmly. "Bring it to me! Bring me Solum's core!" Before she knew it, she was imprisoned between two arms.

She was taken by surprise. "What…what the hell do you think are you doing!?"

Decus seemed to react at Alice's words. Frightened, he sprang away from her. "What… what have I done?" Decus looked into Alice's eyes and saw something that he hadn't seen in her in a long time: fear. "I'm sorry Alice. I didn't want to do it. I…I swear you. I don't know what has happened to me."

Alice began to move backwards, pointing at him with her whip in a menacing way. "Get--get away from me!"

Decus was horrified, he remembered that look. That was how she looked when the kids abused her ten years ago at the orphanage. He never thought that Alice would look at him like that. And so, he began to cry.

"Alice, please…forgive me." He couldn't stand to see that look directed towards him. "I beg you." He could see that the one for whom he had fought for all these years was falling apart in front of him. "Please, forgive me."

Decus approached to her with caution but Alice hit him savagely with the whip. "Leave me! Stay away!"

Alice ran outside the room while Decus remained on the floor, screaming her name begging desperately for her forgiveness.

"ALIIICEEEEEEE!"

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"Then, that's all." Richter and Brute where talking together when the office door opened to reveal Alice.

"May I ask _why_ you are intruding?" Brute asked in an irritated voice.

"Dec-"

"WARNING! WARNING! ALERT IN SECTOR 3! ALERT IN SECTOR 3!" A robotic voice interrupted Alice. "BEGINNING SECURITY PROTOCOL: _**CORPSE HUNTING**_. ALL ACCESSES TO SECTOR 3 ARE SEALED!"

Brute turned on the security monitors and Alice approached the monitors as fast as she could. What she saw were images of a lot of soldiers lying on the floor, writhing in obvious agony.

"What the hell has happened?" Brute asked aloud.

One of the cameras showed Decus shaking a soldier who was trying to flee.

Richter remained static, watching the images with apparent interest in what was happening. "Size the image and turn the sound of the 3ºA8 camera on," he requested.

"GIVE ME SOLIUM'S CORE!"

"Hmmm…" Richter muttered "Apparently the long period of being exposed to the core has corrupted the host."

"Host!?" Alice cried. She was angry to hear Richter refer to Decus with such a demeaning phrase.

Richter didn't seem to realize or give any importance to Alice's words. "The subject has become very violent and unstable. Without a doubt, he'll try to get the core at all costs."

Alice couldn't help but feel guilty. She was the one who convinced Decus to use the core in the first place. She knew that those things could be dangerous to humans and could corrupt the owners, but she never thought that the effects could be so dangerous.

"And what's the solution?" she asked while trying not to look very concerned.

"The only way to make him be himself again would be hatch the core that has affected him."

Brute reacted quickly after hearing Richter's words. "Then he'll have to be sacrificed," Brute said coldly. Alice turned her head with surprise after hearing Brute's statement.

"What!?" she cried, alarmed.

"Alice," Brute said seriously "As the leader of the Combat Squadron, you'll be the one in charge of killing Decus."

Alice couldn't believe what she had just heard. Brute was ordering her to kill Decus? "You want me to kill Decus? He is still useful…for the Vanguard, I mean."

"He has already fulfilled his function. He is now a dispensable member," Brute continued coldly. "Anyway, since no one cares about that idiot, no one will miss him." Brute seemed to enjoy humiliating him before her as he assumed that all the present members shared his opinion.

Alice could feel her blood boiling in her veins. She could see in Brute's eyes the still-fresh memory of all the children laughing, insulting and attacking Decus at the orphanage for being weaker than them and for befriending a half-elf. She couldn't stand that look.

"Anyway, I always intended to accuse him for all the crimes he committed and execute him in order to stifle any kind of rumors. The idiot never knew that he was being manipulated." Alice really wanted to kill Brute at that moment, but she held back. "But not all the merit is mine. If it wasn't for you Alice, and your ability to manipulate him, we wouldn't have achieved it."

"Now, go and get rid of that idiot. You have my permission to enjoy it all you want." Brute laughed as he said that.

Without looking back Alice left the room. If she didn't leave the room soon she would end up attacking Brute at any moment.

"You two!" she snapped at a couple of Vanguard soldiers, "Follow me! We are going to Sector 3!"

"As you order, Lady Alice!"

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Alice was unable to make a plan that would keep appearances up and also save Decus at the same time. Disobeying her orders would destroy all her plots for obtaining power but to kill Decus…thinking of him dying was already sickening—how could she kill him? She definitely wasn't going to. She had to find a solution, and fast.

One of the soldiers approached to help one of his hurt companions on the floor, but before he was able to, he felt a painful blow from Alice's rapier.

"What are you doing?! We have a mission!"

The soldier, apparently not very smart, talked back to her. "He is wounded and…"

But before Alice was able to punish his nerve Decus appeared from out of nowhere and grabbed the soldier by the neck, lifting him various inches from the ground and shouting "Where is it?! Give it to me!! GIVE ME SOLUM'S CORE!!!!" Seeing that he wasn't going to get any response, he threw the soldier against the other, leaving the two unconscious. Then he began to approach Alice.

He definitely wasn't the Decus she knew. Her only childhood friend, the one who had always been at her side and never failed her, was gone.

Alice faced Decus with her toy rapier, ready to cast a spell, but for a second she doubted and that second was all Decus needed to grab the whip and disarm her, leaving her completely vulnerable against him.

Alice began to move backwards while Decus approached slowly. "The core…"

"Give me the core!" Decus swooped on her and grabbed her shoulders. With a quick movement he pushed her against the wall.

"Aah!" Alice moaned in pain. "Damn! Get away!" Alice began to kick him but it seemed to be useless. Physically, he was much stronger than her. She was completely subjected to his mercy. Unarmed and without her pets she was no match for Decus's strength. He could do anything he wanted to her. _Anything_.

"Where are you hiding it…?"

Decus leaned in slowly. "Hmmm…" She could feel his breath on her face. He was examining her quietly, like an animal who had noticed something. Disgusted with the situation she tried to look away but Decus grabbed her chin so he could look fixedly into her eyes. "A-Alice?"

Quickly he released her and stepped back. Terrified, he looked his hands. "What…what have I done!?" He grabbed his head with both and screaming he began to run.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Alice took the chance to pick up her weapon, but when she looked up again Decus was nowhere to be seen.

Walking slowly she entered into the nearest room. When Alice entered the room, she found something that she didn't expect. Decus was huddled in a corner crying and grasping his hair with both hands.

Alice approached cautiously without lowering her guard. "Decus…?"

"Get away!" Decus shouted between tears. "Don't…don't come near me. I'm a monster!"

Alice felt full of guilt. It was all her fault.

"I promised that I'd never betray you, and I…and I've done it!! I don't deserve to live!" Decus lifted his head to look at Alice. His eyes where completely red and clouded with tears.

"Kill me…" he begged, "Please Alice. Kill me."

Alice's eyes began to moisten. She couldn't believe what Decus was asking her to do.

Decus began to get up. "Alice…I-I can't control myself. It's the only way to protect you. Please…I beg you. Kill me…"

Decus grabbed his head again. "Aaaaaaahh!" Alice hated seeing him like that.

"Give it to me…GIVE ME THE CORE!!!"

Decus ran towards Alice but this time she didn't doubt anything. "A Season in Hell!!" she cried.

"Aaaaaahh!" The shock hit Decus squarely in the chest, pushing him against the nearest wall leaving him stunned at the floor.

Alice hurriedly approached him. After verifying that he was weakened, she helped him to rise up by supporting his arm on her shoulder. Helping him to walk, she guided Decus to his Iron-Maiden, and using the golden arms of the torture instrument as shackles, Alice caught his arms, effectively immobilizing him.

The scene was horrific. Decus seemed to be crucified.

"Why Alice…" Decus asked weakly before losing consciousness, "Why don't you kill me?"

"Decus…" Alice neared Decus with tears in her eyes. Using her hand she set aside the hair that was falling in his eyes.

Then she slid one of her hands over his cheek and stroked it gently. "You have always been loyal to me no matter how bad I had treated you." She had been retaining too many emotions and thoughts inside her. "I'm not going to lose you…" And it was time to face the truth. "Although you never knew it…I…you are very important to me."

Alice stopped her hand from caressing his skin and left the room. She had to make a plan, and quickly. Brute would soon ask for his corpse. Alice was desperate. She didn't know how to get out of this victoriously.

"Alice!" Brute's voice sounded in the earphone. "Have you gotten rid of the idiot?"

The question irritated her but she couldn't let herself be carried away by emotions. "Yes."

"OK. Later, we'll throw his body to the sea. Now I want you to pay attention. We have intruders. I want you to take Marta alive. Don't fail me this time, Alice."

"Okie-dokie 3" Alice answered sweetly.

"I won't tolerate more mistakes." He ended in a threatening tone before cutting off the connection.

She was going to kill Marta. First Brute told her to kill Decus, and now he was trying to threaten her?

"I'm going to kill her and show her father that no one…wait!" Alice smiled evilly. "That's it…"

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Marta furiously hit the floor with her fist. She couldn't believe that she had fallen again into another of Alice's traps. She should have never trusted her. But she seemed so concerned about Decus that it was almost impossible not to believe her. But now something was clear to Marta: Alice didn't care about Decus, not even a little. How could she be so selfish with someone who only had love for her? Marta felt sorry for the blue haired boy. Couldn't he see that his love will never be returned? That Alice was only using him? She couldn't help but think about what had made Decus sell his soul to someone who treated him worse than a dog.

Enclosed in her thoughts, Marta didn't notice that she was no longer alone. Alice had come. "My, my, my, Martmart. Always so innocent."

"Where is Emil!?" Marta asked, getting up.

"You are locked in a cell with me and still you care about him? Pathetic."

"What do you know about love?! You only care about yourself!"

Alice smiled sweetly. "When you say it like that it almost sound as if it was something bad 3 3."

"How can you use Decus while he is in that state!? He's sick! Can't you see that!?"

"It's not my fault if that idiot is willing to fulfill all my wishes up to the point of sacrificing his own life. If Decus is happy being my slave, who am I to deny his happiness?"

Marta couldn't believe how naturally had Alice pronounced those words. "You are nothing but a selfish bitch! What are you going to do with Decus now that he is no longer useful to you!? Are you going to kill him!?"

Alice's false smile vanished in an instant and with a quick movement she slapped Marta's face. Before Marta was able to react, Alice put one of her feet over her leg and pressed strongly.

"Brute has ordered me to deliver you alive, Martmart" Marta was scared. Alice had tried to kill her while ignoring Brute orders other times. "But he didn't tell me how he wanted me to bring you to him."

Alice recovered her childish speech. "It would be a pity if you had resisted, forcing me to break your legs, don't you think Martmart?"

Alice removed the foot of Marta's leg and opened cell door. "Be a good girl and get up by yourself."

Marta was confused. Alice had had the perfect opportunity to kill her. Why hadn't she killed her? Neither had she bothered to disarm her, but why? What was going on?

"Don't do anything stupid if you want to arrive in one piece Martmart." Marta decided to heed Alice's words. Not only will she avoid an unnecessary confrontation, but following Alice's game would be the fastest and safest way to arrive to her father.

Without giving the slightest explanation, Alice entered with Marta into the security control room. She seemed to be in a hurry. Dozens of monitors were showing images transmitted directly by the security cameras placed along the corridors of the fortress.

"I've some business to attend before take you to the commander. Be a good girl and stay quiet."

"Emil!" Marta couldn't help it. She had seen Emil safe along with Colette and Zelos on one of the monitors.

"What are you doing?" Marta asked after seeing Alice press a lot of switches placed on an enormous panel.

"I'm just playing a little 3"

Marta was unhappy with the answer but she bit her tongue and looked again the monitors. In them, she could see how all her companions were entering into the fortress depths using different corridors.

Alice grabbed a microphone and began to give orders using the public address system. "Attention to all the units! Hear Alice, leader of the Combat Squadron. We are being attacked. All the units move to sectors B-7 and D-2 using corridors C-6 and A-8. It's an order! Do it now if you don't want me to burn you alive!"

Marta was surprised. She couldn't believe that Alice had confused the directions. She was sending the strongest Vanguard units in the wrong directions. Undoubtedly this would greatly facilitate the assault to the fortress. How could she have made such an error?

"OK Martmart, let's go to see the commander. And try not to be useless for once."

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Brute was fighting against the brats and the so-called 'heroes of regeneration'. He was giving a good fight but it was only a matter of time for him to be defeated.

"I'm not going to be defeated so easily!" Brute muttered under his breath. "Help me… Alice, what are you waiting for? Heal me!"

"OK. Help incoming 33" Alice said with a malevolent simile.

Brute started to laugh to himself as he saw some runic symbols being drawn under his feet. "With Alice as support, I can't lose"

"Absolute!"

Brute terrified as he heard the keyword of Alice's spell. "But…what the hell!?" The sharp icicles wounded Brute seriously. "Damn traitor…"

"Genis! Be careful! We don't want to kill him!"

"But I didn't…"

"Daddy!" Marta ran towards her father to check his wounds.

And when no one was expecting it, the doors opened.

Decus appeared in the room with the eyes injected with blood lust. "I found it!!" Pushing away anyone who was in his path, he ran towards Brute.

Marta was taken by surprise. "Decus! How did you-" But before she had the chance to finish the question, she was sent to the floor with a strong hand blow.

"Give it to me!" Decus raised his hand again, ready to tear away the core from Brute's body. "Give me the core!"

Brute couldn't believe what he was watching. Wasn't Decus supposed to be dead? "Decus, you…" But Brute's words where cut as soon as Decus thrust through the commander's chest with his fist.

Alice couldn't avoid the enjoyment of seeing how Decus, using brute force, break through Brute's entrails in order to tear away the core without using any spell. The incredibly painful process could be seen in the expression of the commander. Finally Decus extracted the core from Brute's body, which fell limp onto the floor. Alice's smile vanished in that moment. If Decus put the core into himself again the results would be unpredictable. He would recover his conscience. But would he be the same Decus?

Quickly, Emil swooped on Decus making him drop the core. Marta quickly hatched it while Emil struggled with Decus, making him unable to attain the fruits of his savage attack.

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Decus looked around astonished and frightened, he couldn't remember anything. "I don't—wait. What the hell just happened?"

"Decus!" Decus turned his head quickly after hearing Alice's sweet and lovable voice. "Over here!" She was gesturing with her arms to escape. The answers to Decus's questions would have to wait—after all, his love was calling him.

In the stealthiest way possible, Decus and Alice left the room and headed to the elevator.

"Alice, could you explain to me what has happened?"

"Not now Decus, we have to get out of here. We can't fight against them all."

"You two!" Lloyd shouted "Wait!"

Alice pressed repeatedly the elevator's button. "C'mon! C'mon! Open yourself already!"

"I finally found you!" Lloyd shouted while running towards them.

The doors of the elevator were finally open. "Finally! Decus enter!"

Decus put one of his hands in his pocket and entered the elevator.

Before the doors were completely closed Lloyd arrived and forced himself between them so that the sensor made the doors open again.

"You two aren't going anywhere!" But before Lloyd unsheathed his swords Decus took out what he was looking for in his pocket and shoved it in the swordsman's face.

"Smile…" Decus pressed the nozzle of the bottle of his everlasting fragrance _**Eau de seduction**_.

Lloyd felt his eyes begin to burn. "AAAAAAAAAHHH!" he cried in pain. Tears began to fall. "What's this? Damn bastard!" Each time he tried to breathe it was like introducing fire into the lungs "My face!! I can't breathe!! What the hell was that thing!?"

"_Auf Wiedersehen_!" Decus shouted before pushing Lloyd away with a strong kick.

The elevator's doors closed.

"Alice. Can you explain to me what has happened?" Decus asked calmly "I…I can't remember anything."

"Anything?" She asked. He shook his head.

Suddenly, Alice grabbed the tie that Decus had around his neck and pulled his face near hers. Decus blushed. Only a few inches were separating their lips.

"Alice…what- -" Decus couldn't speak properly.

Alice smiled after seeing the shine in Decus's blue eyes. His eyes were looking again as if she was the center of the universe. He was looking her again with that unconditional love, with that special shine that was only for her.

"Is something wrong?" Decus was concerned. Alice was smiling but a tear was sliding down her check.

"No…" Alice answered, drying the drop and pushing Decus away "…Your stupid cologne has irritated my eyes."

"You can't fool me Alice, that was a tear of joy." Since when Decus was so clever? "Joy produced by my everlasting fragrance: _Eau de seduction_." Since never, obviously.

"Ptch, whatever…anyway: _Auf Wiedersehen_?" Alice asked, changing the topic.

"Yeah, it's German. It means 'good bye'."

"I already know what it means you idiot! But why German? It's not the first time I've heard you using German."

Decus laughed proudly. "Haha! My dear Alice—or should I say _meine liebe_?—I use German because it's the language of love!"

"You idiot!" Alice cried, "German isn't the language of love. French is!"

Decus put a hand over his forehead and looked to the floor dramatically. "What!? Are you serious? You mean that I've been scammed again?"

"So it seems. No surprises there. That's why I call you 'Dumbo-Decus'."

Decus knelt and looked to the elevator's roof. "Damn. I can't believe that I've wasted almost 20 000 gald for those tapes to learn German!"

Alice tried to look annoyed while Decus began one of his dramatic and overacted shows. She was happy. Decus was back.

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**Reviews will be appreciated.**

**WARNING:**** This chapter contained spoilers.**

_**Translator:  
**_

**- Verzweiflung: Despair.**

**-Meine Liebe: My love.**

**  
-****Auf Wiedersehen: Good bye.**

**Hints:**

SECURITY PROTOCOL: _**CORPSE HUNTING**_**: In "Tales of the Abyss" security protocol to close all the doors in the Tartaros.**

**Author's notes****: **

**- I'll update this collection of oneshots eventually. **

**And again: Reviews will be appreciated. **


	2. Stolz und verständnis

**Disclaimer: **I don't own ToS:DoTW or its characters.

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**Stolz und verständnis**

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"Alice! I've finally found you!" The blue haired man shouted happily while he gleefully approached the object of his affections.

Alice tuned her head after hearing the familiar voice. "Decus? What are you doing here?"

"Richter ordered me to--" But his explanation was interrupted by a loud scream coming from the roof of the cavern.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

A strange girl dressed in purple robes suddenly fell from a hatch located right above Alice. Decus, who was horrified seeing his love being crushed by the unidentified person, grabbed his head with both hands.

"AAAAAHH! Oh, Goddess! Alice!"

He ran to Alice and pushed the strange female that had fallen on top of Alice off of her. "Ow. But what the-?"

Decus ignored the woman's complaints and knelt beside Alice raising her torso with his arm. "Alice! Alice! Are you O.K?" After receiving no response from her, he put two fingers over her neck to check her pulse. _One, two, three, four, five… _Nothing. Decus was terrified for her. "No! No! This can't be! Alice! ALIICEEE!"

The woman dressed with strange clothes awkwardly rose up. "Aaaah… What a fall." She took a step back. Decus was still crying and embracing Alice (who seemed to be a white golden haired girl, in the eyes of the strange woman). "What the hell just happened?" she asked aloud.

"Alice. Oh Alice, I beg you. Don't die… I can't live without you, I don't want to. Please Alice don't die." Decus couldn't hold back the tears.

The strange woman soon understood what had just happened. She quickly ran to aid the pair.

"Is she O.K?"

Decus didn't answer. He just kept crying over Alice's shoulder. "Alice. Alice, don't leave me, please."

The coal haired woman put her fingers over Alice's wrist. Her pulse was normal. "The girl is fine. She is just unconscious."

Decus rose his head up to look for first time the unknown woman. "What? Are you saying that she is O.K? I've just check her pulse with my own hands-" He noticed something after looking his own hands. "Oh! The gloves…"

"You remind me to someone… Anyway. By your clothes I would risk to say that you didn't come here to take a walk. Do you have any gel or vial to wake her up?"

"Of course. I keep those things inside my Iron Maiden."

"I don't think that this is a good moment to be sarcastic."

Decus looked hurt for a moment. "I would never be sarcastic! She is my beloved!" Decus pointed his Iron Maiden. "I'm talking seriously."

"Oh." The mysterious girl blushed. "Wait a moment! Are you saying that you take that big iron thing everywhere? How?"

"This is no time to flirt, woman. I understand that you had been impressed by my strength. By my heart belong to her." Decus deposited Alice's body into the kind woman's arms and ran towards his torture instrument. When he opened it the girl was impressed, not for the huge sword, but for the decoration. An innumerable amount of pictures of the golden haired girl covered the space inside the Iron Maiden.

"Where is it? Where is it…?" Decus muttered, looking for anything that could help.

"Stop searching. It doesn't matter. I'll use one of my seals to wake her up. It shouldn't be hard."

Decus closed his Iron Maiden and ran towards his beloved. "What's that paper?"

"This _paper_, as you call it, is a magic seal that allows me to recover the awareness of those who are out of combat," she explained, "And now… Purgatory Seal!"

The paper disappeared with a blinding light.

"And now?" Decus asked impatiently. "Why isn't my dear waking up?"

The woman looked worried. "This is bad. She is not waking up."

"Alice! Alice, my darling! Your dear Decus is here! Now, open your eyes for me!"

"I'm surprised she hasn't come to yet. Your cologne could wake the dead."

"Ahah!" Decus laughed, apparently thinking that his cologne was as irresistible as always. "You're entranced by my alluring essence as well. However! I am pledged to my darling Alice."

"Decus?!" A familiar voice asked.

The mysterious woman lifted her head to ask for the newcomer's aid "You came just in time! This girl broke my fall! Can you use healing artes to help her?"

"Marta?!" Decus asked in surprise, "But Richter killed you!"

"Wait a minute." Suddenly, the friendly attitude of the young woman who had tried to help him with Alice changed. "You know Richter? Are you guys friends with that creep?"

Marta decided to clarify the situation. "Sheena, those two are both members of the Vanguard!"

Sheena (after realizing what she had been doing) casually dropped the body of the girl that she nearly killed minutes ago and ran over to her new friends.

"Ooow…" The sudden impact with the ground apparently woke Alice up. "What the--?"

"Alice, my darling! It's your prince. Decus!" At the sound of the familiar voice, Alice turned her head to face her sickening companion.

"What the- -?" She quickly left his side. She didn't want to be related with him in public. "Why is Dumbo-Decus here? Eww… Get away from me, you reek!" She looked at the new group. "Martmart? Why are you still alive? What, Richter failed?"

"Yes my dearest Alice. And after all the trouble I went to, transforming to lure Marta away from her friends." Decus took the form of Marta's father to show what he meant.

Marta then fully realized what had happened. "Daddy! You- - That was nothing but a disguise!"

"Sheena, is that similar to your ninja technique?" A blue-haired man asked in surprise to Decus's trick.

"No. Even the most advanced techniques of the Igaguri-style involve some sort of trick or device," the woman replied.

"Well, well." Alice decided that she had already let them talk enough. "Guess I'll just have to take care of little Martmart myself. I can't wait to see the look on Richter's face when I tell him."

Alice seemed to be happy so Decus didn't waste a second to join in it. "Let me help, my dearest Alice."

The group took the chance of what it seemed that was going to be a discussion between the two and ran away.

"Decus, you stink. Stay away from me!" Alice said before running after the group.

Decus ignored her hurtful words and ran after her. He wasn't going to let Alice go up alone against all those enemies. It could be dangerous. And it wasn't the first time that her pride didn't let her see the risk of the situations.

"Now then, be a good girl and say your prayers before I send you off to heaven." she said in a sweet voice.

"Not so fast!" Sheena shouted getting in her way, "Celsius!"

The Summon Spirit of Ice appeared between Alice and Decus and created a frozen wall between them and the group of the self-proclaimed heroes.

"No fair!" Alice shouted angrily. "First you fall right on me, and now you throw up this stupid wall!"

"Quiet my dear." Decus hated to see Alice so frustrated. "I'll take care of this." He said bowing before her.

"Decus. Stop calling me dear while you are in that form!"

Decus noticed that Alice was right--he still was in commander's Brute form. But that wasn't the only thing he noticed in Alice's sentence. "Wait a moment! Do you mean that you don't mind my praises while I'm in my normal form?" He asked happily, taking his original form once more.

"Eewww… No way! I just meant that it was more repulsive than usual."

"It's still good news," he proclaimed happily while he took his sword out of the Iron Maiden. "Now my dear. Look at the power of love!" Decus used all his strength and hit the wall and only managed to scratch it a little.

"How impressive…"Alice said sarcastically. "Now I'll show you the real meaning of the word 'power'!" Making circles with her toy rapier she cast a spell which only managed the same result as Decus's blow. "I'm still weak for the hit on my head."

Decus knock the wall with his knuckles. "It seems to be pretty tough."

"Oh! Don't tell me!"

Decus, as always, ignored or wasn't wounded by Alice's words. "It seems that the only thing we can do is wait until it melts to get out of here."

"Ptch… We should take a nap." Alice sat down on the ground. "It isn't worth it to waste energy."

Decus turned his head and smiled. "Alice! Don't- - Don't tell me that you wanna rest with me?!"

"What?!"

"You know, to warm each other's bodies!"

"No way, you stink! I would rather freeze to death than be near you!"

Decus stop smiling and sat down. But what did he expect? She didn't like him, after all.

"What do you think you are doing?!"

"You want me to be nearer?" Decus asked hopefully.

"If you want to take a nap here you should put something between us. I'm so not going to take a nap if there isn't something to separate us." Alice took a look around. "Use the Iron Maiden. Maybe that piece of junk could be useful for once."

Decus obediently got up and put the Iron Maiden between them creating an imaginary line.

"And don't even think about passing the line! I don't want you to be close to me!"

**5 Minutes later.**

"Alice." Decus whispered, "Alice… Are you awake?"

"No."

"It doesn't remind you of the old times? You know, when it was just you, me and your pets?"

"Since when _aren't_ you one of my pets?"

"Well. If you consider me one of your pets, I'll be happy."

After hearing those words Alice was glad that the Iron Maiden was blocking Decus's vision or he would be able to see the sudden blush over her checks.

"Don't be so happy. I prefer any of my pets before you. They are hypnotized, I can trust them more than I'll be able to trust you, if I ever trust you. You are a human after all. Humans can't be trusted."

Decus felt saddened after hearing that phrase. It seemed that nothing will be able to make her trust him, not even the sacrifice of his life for her. He hated being a human. He wished he was a half-elf too. Maybe Alice could trust him if he wasn't a dirty human.

"Alice," Decus said seriously. "If you want… If you want you can use the Hypnos with me."

"What?!" Alice was far from expecting that kind of answer.

"I said, if you want to, you can use the Hypos on me. If that's the only way to be useful to you, to make you happy, I'll gladly lose my consciousness."

"What are you saying Dumbo-Decus?" Alice was really mad. She hated how Decus was always able to twist her meanings. "I'm not going to waste an Exsphere on someone as useless as you!"

"OK… I just wanted you to know that if you someday want to take the control over all my actions with the Hypnos… I wouldn't mind it."

"Shut up!" Alice shouted. "This conversation is over!"

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Decus had stayed awake staring at the roof for at least twenty minutes. He couldn't allow himself to fall asleep. What if a monster attacked Alice while he was sleeping? He would never forgive himself if something happened to Alice.

Tired of, ironically, not doing anything, Decus got up and began to do some stretching exercises. Looking to one side, he noticed how peacefully Alice was sleeping on the floor. Decus couldn't help but smile as he came close to her without passing the Iron Maiden. The way she slept wasn't exactly very feminine: her face was sideways as a thread of saliva dripped out of her mouth, one knee lifted into the air and the other on the ground with her legs open in "V" form with an arm extended across the floor and the other over her chest. And if all that wasn't enough, she was snoring. But that didn't bother Decus. Far from it! She was so natural like this that it made her even more attractive. Alice was like that. She was herself. And she didn't bother to hide it, because she was proud of the person she had become. And if someone had something against it, he would have to deal with them!

She was a strong woman who didn't let herself be carried by the values of the weak. She didn't find excuses for her actions or any kind of pretext for her selfish interest. She wasn't like those who said _"We must do the good for others."_ Hypocrites all of them! They only try to find excuses to do whatever they want and be able to sleep at night. Always acting like they were better than her, like their actions were justified so they can call her: _bitch_ or_ sadist_. He hated them all! Always saying that they were the good guys while the only thing that they are after is the feeling of feeling good with themselves. Such a thing as kindness and goodness were non-existent, only excuses that the hypocrites use to justify their selfish purposes. They weren't better than her, yet they always were acting like they were.

Decus was proud of the kind of person that Alice had become. And even if she never believed it, he understood her.

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"Damn wall!" Alice shouted as she kicked it. "It's been an hour trapped in here with you and it hasn't melted yet!" she ranted, and then embraced herself, rubbing her hands against her forearms in an attempt to get some warmth. "And to make it worse this place is made of ice… I'm going to get a cold."

In an instant Decus had undone his jacket and knelt reverently as he offered it to his beloved. "Here you go, my love."

"Get that out of my sight!" Alice snapped. "I don't want to wear your stinky clothes and end up smelling like you!"

"Alice! You shouldn't be worried about my health. I can swear to you that I'll be fine."

"What are you talking about?!" She said in a surprised tone. "I don't care about you or your health!" She snatched his jacket and put it over her as if it was a cloak. "The only one who matters here is me! So I will take YOUR jacket. I'll use anything that could be useful for me. You can die here for all I care."

"Fear not my darling." Decus said while he moved his arms doing some kind of weird dance. "Your presence keeps my heart warm enough."

"Weirdo."

Without a doubt Decus was a weirdo. His behavior was completely unnatural. He was always making weird dances in public like there was no one around. But contrary to popular opinion, she didn't mind the way he acted—in fact she liked it. It's not that she liked the way he moved, but the meaning behind it.

Decus didn't care about what people thought about him. If he wanted to do something he just did it. Decus was proud and sure of himself. He didn't need to satisfy anyone to feel good with himself or fit into the manipulative standards of the society. Cowards called him an idiot as they remained in their golden cages. But those cowards were too afraid of the freedom, of whatever other people will say about them. So they keep living as the powerful ones tell them to live, believing what others tell them to be right or wrong. Those cowards won't ever be able to live their lives call him an idiot because they needed to think that he was one to find some kind of sense in their pathetic lives. But those cowards won't ever taste the freedom.

Alice was proud of the kind of person that Decus had become. And even if he didn't know it, she understood him.

"If only I could find something to cover my legs…" Alice murmured to herself.

"Understood…" After hearing those words Alice heard the sound of a belt being undone. "Wait a second my dearest Alice." When Alice looked behind her she saw Decus jumping around with his pants at the level of the ankles as he tried to remove one of his shoes to remove his trousers.

Alice looked stunned, not knowing how to react. "What are you doing?!" Blushing, she threw Decus to the ground and pushed herself over him she smashed his face against the floor.

"Exhibitionist! Put on your pants already!"

"Al-ice, it's ver-y hard to do it l-ike this."

"You should have thought that before showing me your underpants. Perv!"

"Are you done yet?" A familiar voice Asked from behind.

Alice turned her head. "Richter?!" Alice rose up quickly. "It's not what it - -."

Richter interrupted the explanation. "I don't care about it and I don't want to know it." He turned away from the pair and left from where he had come.

Alice went through the melted ice hole in the wall. "Richter!" She turned around and threw the jacket at Decus's face. "This all is your fault idiot!"

Alice turned around again and run after the red haired half-elf. "Richter, wait!"

Decus put on his jacket and closing his eyes he embraced himself. "I suppose that this will be the closest I'll come to be able to embrace you." And after the brief moment of joy, he took his Iron Maiden and ran after his beloved.

"Alice, wait!"

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**Translator:**

- Stolz und verständnis: Pride and understanding.

**-Dedicated to the autor "Eu de Seduction". **


	3. GreenSleeves

**Author's note:**** It took me forever to update this. I'll try to update the next one sooner.  
The chapter is set before the game events.**

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GREENSLEEVES

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_Dear Madam A. Due the importance of the mission in which you are going to cooperate, this letter won't reveal any data that could endanger its integrity._

_Meet with our agent the 02/08 at 20:15 at the entrance of Altamira. Once you've met __with him, he'll inform you of your role in the__ mission._

_P.S: Destroy this letter._

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Two days had passed since she got the intriguing letter and she couldn't help but wonder why she had been called for this kind of mission. Normally those kinds of jobs were for Decus. After all, he was the one in the espionage division, not her. She wanted to be known and feared, not the one who works in the shadows and wasn't going to be feared since nobody would know what she was able to do.

As she neared to the meeting point a familiar figure became clearer. Richter Abend seemed to be the contact the letter talked about.

"Hi Richter!" she said in a singing voice.

"You're late."

"I'm so sorry." The half-elf said scratching one leg timidly with her toe. "But I had girl things to do. You already know what I mean." She winked.

"I'm afraid that I don't. But there are things about you that I prefer not to know."

"As sharp as always, hmmm…"

Richter sighed while he readjusted his hair with one hand. "I'll update you on the way to the hotel." Alice nodded and followed Richter to the hotel while he began to explain the details. "I'm aware that you must be wondering why you were chosen for this mission, Alice. Due the importance of the mission the Vanguard didn't want to take any risks. That's why the two best agents of the organization were chosen."

"Well, I feel flattered."

"Let's begin then. Lezareno's company is going to celebrate a ball in order to celebrate the success of sales in Sylvarant. I don't think I need to say that only a few people have been invited to the party." Richter gave a card to Alice. "You'll infiltrate the party under the name of Maggie. A humble servant that fell in love with her master and married him since…" Richter took a breath. "Since they loved each other so much."

"What crap," Alice muttered with some annoyance as she entered the elevator. "A servant with her master… Ptch… It's like a human with a half-elf. I wonder what kind of idiot comes up with these ideas."

"These ideas are the product of the imagination of the leader of this operation."

"What a surprise!" Alice exclaimed with a smile. "Who would have known that you, of all the people, were a hopeless romantic."

Once the elevator arrived to the chosen floor Richter stepped off the elevator before Alice. "I'm afraid that you have-" But his words were interrupted by the leader of the combat squadron.

"How improper!" she said in an irritated voice. "Don't you have manners?" Soon the irritated tone was replaced by a sweet, childish one. "Ladies should step out always first."

"I'm a gentleman, but you obviously can't be called lady." Richter didn't even bother to look at Alice's open-mouthed face. "And I don't have intentions of having a meaningless discussion with you, so let me finish before interrupting me again." Richter took the key of the room and opened the door. "As I was telling you, I'm not your partner."

"You aren't!?" Alice asked while she turned on the lights. "Then, who is?"

"The agent eighty-six has been promoted and will take care of this mission."

"Eighty-six… Who was the agent eighty-six?"

"Your blue prince!" Alice knew that voice. "The charming and unmatched: Decus!" Decus was knelt offering a rose. "Even the most beautiful flower fades before your beauty, my princess." But instead of kneeling before Alice, he was kneeling in front of Richter.

"What the hell is this!?" The red-haired man asked indignantly. "Be serious! You are on a mission!"

After hearing the Richter's annoying voice Decus lifted his head and opened his eyes. "Richter!" Quickly he stood up and took a few back steps. "I already told you that this couldn't work!"

"Excuse me!?"

"Richter you must understand it." He said dramatically in a sad voice. "Our love is impossible. Maybe if things had been different your love for me could have been reciprocal." Decus then offered the rose to Alice. "But my heart, as well as my life, belongs to another person."

Richter frowned and crossed his arms defensively.

Alice took the rose with one hand, froze it with a look, threw it to the floor and trampled it, breaking the flower of love in hundreds of frozen pieces.

"As cold as always my beloved. But I don't care! Nothing worthwhile is easily obtained."

"Stay out of my sight!" Alice said, hiding behind Richter but keeping the distance. "You are disgusting!"

Richter soon moved aside to stop being a wall between the pair. "I won't intervene. Your problems with him are not my problems."

"Why do I have to work with him!?"

"He is the best in his field." Richter answered while Decus smiled proudly. "In that room…" He said pointing a door at his left "is the night dress that you'll use in the ball. I suggest you to dress yourself as fast as you can. You've come late and the ball is about to begin."

Irritated by Richter's words but without being able to find any good argument she entered in the room, slamming the door behind her.

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Laid out over the bed was an elegant black dress.

"I suggest you dress yourself as fast as you can since you've come late and the ball is about to begin," Alice repeated in a manly voice while she dressed herself. "Stupid Richter! Always acting cool. Like he had everything under control. Well… He won't be able to control me!"

After the rant she took a look at the dress. The back was open and the skirt was just above the knees. The dress was black with green embroideries. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled as she tied a green ribbon around her neck like a bow. She loved how the dress fitted her. And even if it didn't exactly show the _sweet and cute little girl _image she was used to showing, it kept her loli style with a gothic, elegant touch.

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"Richter!"

"Hmm…"

"Do you think… Do you think she liked the dress?" Decus was walking from side to side of the living room nervously stroking his ponytail. "I've spent the salary of two months on that dress. Pure silk of Triet. And it's been made to measure!"

"Could you stop drooling over her? People like you make me sick." Richter said, ignoring his questions. "If you want to lick her boots, go ahead, be her pet, I won't be the one who will be impeded it. But at least don't do it in front of me."

Decus was too nervous to care about Richter's words. "I hope she liked it."

The door opened. As soon as Alice appeared before them some tears began to roll down Decus's face. "By the Goddess Martel… You… You are stunning." He said as he fell kneeling before her astounded by her blinding beauty.

"Stop looking at me like that!" She said hugging her arms around herself. "Perv!"

"Do you… Do you like it?"

"The dress is complete bullshit. The first thing I'll do after the mission is burn it." Decus lowered his face. A new failure. "Let's go to the ball Decus. The sooner we finish this mission the sooner I can burn this dress."

"Decus already has his earphone. Take it!" Richter said giving her a little device. "Put it inside the ear. I'll personally oversee the mission."

"Richter… I'm a big girl. I can take care of anything without anybody's help."

"Who asked you about your opinion? The decision has already been made."

"What are you saying!?" Decus shouted as he rose faster than Richter expected him to do. "Who you think you are to talk like that to Lady Alice!" But he was soon interrupted by Alice.

"Shut it up Dumbo-Decus. I'm strong enough to defend myself!"

Quickly Decus put a hand over his chest and lowered his head. "My humblest apologies, it wasn't my intention offend you."

Alice snorted and left the room.

"My dear!" Decus ran after her. "Wait for me!"

Richter closed the door as the pair entered in the elevator. "I hope everything goes as planned."

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Alice noticed how Decus was looking at her, and she didn't like that look, she knew that look; dilated pupils and biting his inferior lip. That could only mean one thing. He was about to ask her something that involved some sort of romance.

"A-Alice…"

"Yeah?"

"Could you… could you give me your hand?"

"What!?"

"I was just wondering… If you… Well… Since we are a pair now…"

"Can't you see the difference between reality and fiction!?" She replied, annoyed. "If I'm doing this is because I've no other option. We aren't a pair! Never have been and never will be!"

A second latter Alice heard Richter's voice at the earpiece. "Alice. I suggest you to give him your hand. Be unnoticed is paramount."

Alice sighed. "OK Decus. You can take my hand. But put the gloves on first!"

"Of course." He said smiling putting the gloves on. "It's the rule number two after all."

When Decus took Alice's hand he felt a chill cross his back. Even if their hands were separated by the glove's material, he still could feel the touch of her hand and it was wonderful. The closest thing to heaven he had ever felt. To his surprise Alice's fingers intertwined with his without any struggle. His heart began to beat madly. Did she like it too? He hardly was able to swallow. When he turned his face to look Alice's she turned away her head so Decus couldn't see it. He took a deep breath. The time of the truth had come. "Ali-" But before Decus was able to break the moment with any inappropriate comment the elevator's door opened and Alice stepped out quickly pulling out Decus with her.

"Names pleas?" An old man asked politely to Decus.

Since Decus was still in his imaginary world of love, flowers and butterflies, Alice answered in his place. "Maggie and Robert Lauren."

The man began to murmur their names while he traced an imaginary line over the list with his finger. "Correct. Here you are!" The man removed the crimson velvet rope that impeded the pass. "Enjoy the evening."

"Excuse me?" Decus asked once back in the reality.

"Let's go!" Alice exclaimed while she pulled Decus in the room by the necktie like it was a dog leash.

Alice looked around. The ballroom was filled with pompous hypocrites that smiled to each other only waiting for the best moment to stab each other's backs. She felt like a fish out of water. While she was distracted looking the environment, Decus whispered something to a man with a cornet aside the entrance. When Alice noticed what was happening it was already too late. The cornet sounded loudly taking the attention of everyone.

"ROBERT LAUREN AND HIS BELOVED MAGGIE HAVE ARRIVED TO THE BALL!"

"That's what you call to be unnoticed!?" Richter screamed in the earpieces. "What the hell were you thinking Decus!?"

Alice stayed stunned with the mouth completely open. If she wasn't in a mission of espionage she would be strangling him and making him know how stupid he was. A waiter passed before her with a tray full of champagne glasses. She took two glasses and gulped their contents down quickly.

"Let's go Decus." She said drying her mouth. "The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can leave this place."

"Alice…" Decus said concerned. "You shouldn't drink that fast. The champagne could make you feel sick."

"I'm a big girl. I think my body will be able to handle it." As she ended her sentence another waiter passed before them and so she took another glass and drank the golden drink. "So don't tell me what I should and what I shouldn't do."

Decus was about to say something but he knew that if he did it would only encourage Alice to dink more only to prove how wrong he was.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Decus! Can you hear me?" Richter's voice said from the earpiece. "Go to the windows."

"Richter is calling me." Decus whispered to his beloved. "Try to enjoy the party without me."

Alice turned around and went to a table full of appetizers. "It won't be hard."

Once at the table, she was about to take one of the appetizers when her hand collided with the hand of another person. But instead of stopping she pushed away the hand and took the appetizer. Then she turned her head and smiled as she ate her food with satisfaction before the other person's face. He had a smile in his face, as though he liked what she had just done. His eyes were blue and he had a long, red hair in an elegant braid. Alice had to admit that he was really handsome. And whoever he was, he seemed to be really rich.

"Oh… So sorry." The blonde said in a childish voice. "It was the last one?" She wasn't going to waste such opportunity to make someone mad just because he was hot.

"Hmmm… That's what it seems." The guy said. "But it doesn't matter. It seems that I've found something better." He continued seductively looking at her. "My apologies. I think we haven't been introduced. I'm Zelos Wilder."

That name sounded familiar to her, but she didn't know why.

"Pleased to meet you," she said bowing and lifting the skirt's hem a little. "I'm Maggie."

"I know. Your boyfriend has made it clear to us all."

Alice blushed a little. "Oh no! Not at all! He is not my boyfriend. He is…" Alice though and said the first word that came up to her mind. "He is my servant! He did that because I told him that I didn't want to be hit on by some random, ugly guy."

"Hehe… So you've invited your servant as your pair? What does a sweet young girl like you without a real pair?"

Alice heard Richter's voice in her ear. "Alice! What are you doing? Follow the plan!"

But she ignored his words and decided to follow her own funny plan. "Well, I don't think it matters." She said winking to Zelos. "So tell me… Where is your pair?"

"Do you know with who you're flirting!?" Richter asked irritated. "He is Zelos Wilder! The Chosen of Tethe'alla!"

"Chosen!?" She said aloud.

"Indeed… So you've finally recognized me? But that's a title I'm not really proud of. So just call me Zelos. And to answer your question… My pair couldn't come. My lovely banshee is too busy with... Well, that might be too much information. I've come with my sister."

"Oh… So she has jilted you!" She said, smiling roguishly.

"Maybe… But in exchange I've met a-" In that moment a finger strongly touched Zelos's shoulder. The Ex-Chosen turned his head to see who was calling his attention. Robert, the supposed Maggie's servant, was giving him a deadly glare.

"Did you know that you are with my-" But before he was able to finish his sentence Alice interrupted him.

"Why don't you just shut up and go get us two glasses of champagne!?"

"But…" Decus was about to complain when he saw her annoyed face, and he didn't want to annoy her more. "OK." He just lowered his head and went to get the glasses.

"Wow…" Zelos said. "I didn't expect that."

"Well, you know… They never know when they're stepping out of line," She answered sweetly.

The radical change of personality was something the Ex-Chosen didn't expect. The sweet girl had become a bitch in less than a second and become again an innocent girl in the same time. She treated his servant more like a slave. It seemed that he had been wrong with the girl after all. She was just another spoiled brat from a wealthy family.

Zelos sighed. It was impossible to find a nice girl to have a chat in the high society.

"Is something wrong?" Alice asked batting her eye lashes with a puppy face. "Has Maggie done something you didn't like?"

And to tell the truth, that facade of sweet, pure and innocent little girl was touching his nerves. "No… nothing." But he was in a social event and even if he didn't like it he had to follow some rules. Though, he already was used to this kind of girl.

Decus was at the table serving the champagne to his beloved and to the outsider. He was completely confused. "_After all I had done… With a random guy? It makes no sense. Why? She didn't trust me and now she is flirting with a random guy. Well, with a random, handsome and rich guy. But it's not fair. I should fight for her! That guy has power, money and the respect of the high society. If she is happy… I should be happy for her, shouldn't I? Still…"_

"Decus!" Richter screamed through the earpiece. "Decus! Can you hear me Decus!?"

"Uh?"

"Finally! Once you've served your owner, as the dog you are, begin the mission."

Decus nodded and walked like a zombie where Alice and the rich guy were chatting.

"You're finally here!" Alice said, taking the glasses.

"I was distracted."

"Thank you." Zelos said politely feeling bad for the purple-haired guy.

"Don't you have something to do?" Alice asked to get rid of Decus.

"Yeah…" Decus said lowering his head and walking away. "What should I do…?" He said to himself.

"For us?" Alice asked lifting the glass.

"Yeah… For us." Zelos answered without enthusiasm.

Alice downed the contents of the glass tilting her head back dropping the earpiece in the process. After noticing she had lost it she began the search but obeying the Murphy's laws she didn't find it until she stomped the device.

She moves aside her hair and put back the device in the ear. "Ca- you he-r me Al-ce?" Richter asked.

Zelos noticed that Alice ears were a little pointed. He wasn't racist, but a half-elf in Tethe'alla with a rich family and servants? That was weird.

"Yeah." She whispered only loud enough for Richter to hear.

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Decus entered in the elevator and after pressing the employer's button he sat at the floor.

"I guess that if she is happy I should be happy for her. I'm here to make her happy, that's what I live for. But still part of me wants her to be with me… I don't know what to think. Damn it!"

"Are you talking to me?" Richter asked.

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"But what in the…?" Alice asked aloud. She didn't know why but she could swear that she had heard Decus's voice.

"It's everything going alright?" Zelos asked not really concerned.

"Yeah… Just… Nothing, nothing… Everything is fine." Alice walked towards the windows touching the earpiece. "Could you leave me alone a moment sweetheart?"

Zelos nodded and thanked the goddess Martel as he went with his sister and left the blonde succubus.

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"What I don't understand is why him and not me?" Decus continued. "After all the time we've spend together. I should be her first choice… I mean… We've been together since the orphanage, it's not like I had met her only a year ago. "

The elevator finally arrived to the chosen floor.

"Maybe you've misunderstood me. But I don't care about you, her, and your relationship," Richter said irritably.

"Excuse me mister." A guy said when the elevators door opened. "You can't be here."

Decus took out a handkerchief and soaking it with _Eu de Séduction _he put it under his nose causing him lose consciousness.

"OK. Communication system down. You've four minutes."

"No way! I'm not going to lose her!" Decus said while he walked towards his destination. "Who knows what he could do to her! She is strong… But I can't trust him! The smile he had… I'm sure he is one of those rich guys who use his social position to get under the skirts of a girl and once he has gotten what he wanted, he leaves the girl, breaking her heart! I bet he only wants her maidenhood! I hate that kind of guy!"

"Turn to the left."

Another ward appeared when he turned the corner but before he was able to do anything Decus punched him in the jaw with all his rage making him fall unconscious.

"I'll always be there for her!"

"Turn right," Richter instructed in a bored voice.

"I won't let anyone take advantage of her!"

Two wards ran toward him, drawing out their weapons. "Don't move!" But before they could do anything else a flask crashed between them causing them both fall unconscious.

"And I'll make all her wishes become truth! Even if doing it sends me to hell!"

Decus typed the password in a keyboard at the left of the door: _1-12-9-3-9-1_.

"OK. Download all the data about Lezareno's mining excavations and get out of there."

"I can already see it… Us… In a lovely house… With two children… A girl and a boy! And we will love each other a lot. And our kids will have everything we don't! A father, a mother, money, beautiful things…"

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Alice blushed and was completely in shock, still holding a glass of champagne with her hand. She drank it and quickly took the bottle to refill the glass. Her? A mother? With two kids!? No way! One thing was have a relationship with him and other… Wait! A relationship with Decus!? Seriously! Well… It's not like she didn't like him but love was something she… Wait! Again!? She! Loving Decus!? It could be the alcohol! It must be! It was the only reasonable answer. Maybe Decus was right about the risks of drinking.

"Alice!" Richter's voice sounded alarmed. "Can you see the man with blue hair? He is Regal Bryant, the president. He is talking with a ward. If we don't do something, Decus will soon have more problems than he would be able to handle. We need a diversion."

Alice smiled. She threw away the earpiece and picked up a spoon.

"Attention everyone!" She said aloud clicking the glass with the spoon. "I would like to propose a toast!" Everyone looked at her. "For the Vanguard!"

Everyone looked with a weird expression to the girl and began to murmur things.

"Lady, I think you've drunk too much." A blonde haired girl said taking her by the shoulder. "Maybe you should rest a little…"

Alice quickly twisted the girl's arm behind her and using her as a human shield, she put the spoon under her chin.

Zelos was the first one to say something. "What do you think you are doing? You're kidding, right?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding!?" She shouted with a vicious smile. "One move and she is dead!"

"Well… You surely wouldn't. You are a good actress. But come on… With a spoon? Are you serious?"

"Oh yes… I'm." She soon proved how wrong he was with her. Aiming to a chandelier she shouted the incarnation of one of her favorites spells "A Season in Hell!" making the chandelier fall, wounding an old woman causing panic around the ballroom.

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The sound of the arrows launched by crossbows filled the corridors.

"Yeah! Yeah! I'm pleased to meet you too!" The blue haired man shouted as he ran for his life.

"Take him!"

Decus continued running until he saw a door, then he stopped and turned around with a smile. _"This is going to be cool…" _he thoughtand he gave an elbow smash to the panel which controlled the door. "Auf Wiedersehen!" But the door closed immediately before he was able to enter. "Crap! Those doors are pretty fast."

"What an idiot…" One of the guards murmured. "Take him now!"

"Damn!" And so the persecution started again.

Decus continued running for the corridors until he saw the elevator. Only a few feet separated him from his escape transport when a bunch of guards appeared before the elevator.

"Stake the lances!" Shouted one of them and all the other guards put their lances in attack position making an impenetrable wall of blades. "You! Take him!"

One of the guards ran at Decus but he dodged easily with a dance-like movement and took the lance after the guard fell. Then he aimed at the other guards with his newly acquired weapon and smiled with confidence. "Let's break it down!"

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"Alice! Alice!" Richter shouted her name but he only heard screams and interferences. "Decus can you hear me!? You're out of time!"

"This victory will be for Alice!" Decus just ignored him as he fought against the guards.

Aqua appeared in front of Richter. "I told you Richter. She is paranoid and he is just obsessed with her. They are both insane. Do I need to remember you their test? One word: Psychopaths."

"We have no time for this." Richter said. "If we stay here we'll be in problems. I must keep my identity a secret."

"OK." The centurion said, following her master. "Though I would have liked to see how that sadist-brat messed everything up…"

Richter opened the window of the room and jumped. Before his feet touched the ground he used a wind spell to create an air mattress to soft the landing. "Let's go Aqua. We are leaving this place!"

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Alice began to walk backwards to one of the windows without removing the spoon from the girl's neck. "Tell the wards to put down their weapons if you want this cutie to live."

"Help me, please!" The frightened girl shouted.

"OK. Calm down." Bryant said. "Put down the weapons!"

"You are surrounded." Zelos proclaimed. "Maggie! Surrender now!"

"Please, call me Alice."

"And what does the Vanguard want!?" Regal asked.

She smiled at the question. "I don't know…. And I don't give a damn about it… Right here, right now, all I want is to have some fun." Alice smiled kindly as she closed her eyes. "That's all."

"Damn crazy girl!" Zelos cursed.

Alice ordered the girl to open the window. "Oh… Pho, pho… That makes Alice so sad. No goodnight kiss then Zeloshy?" Once the window was opened she put two fingers in her mouth and gave a loud whistle. "What a shame… You really had a nice look."

"Don't throw me!" The girl begged crying. "I've money… I'll give you whatever you want! Whatever!"

"There are things that money can't buy. NOW SHUT UP!"

"No… no… please… no. I- I beg you."

Before Alice was able to do anything an object hit her hand making her drop the spoon and squeal in pain.

"Enough!" Zelos attacked Alice freeing the hostage. But Alice kept resisting, she was tougher than her appearance made her look like. "Stop resisting…"

"Why?" She asked smiling. "Can a girl defeat you?"

Zelos finally was able to get rid of her with a nudge. But unluckily for the half-elf she was sent to the edge of the long window making her lose her balance. She screamed as she moved her arms trying to grab anything that could help her to avoid the fall but her own weight finally made her fall.

"No! No!" Alice panicked. "Help!"

"Gotcha!" Zelos shouted as he took her hand in the middle of the fall.

"Help me!" Alice screamed with tears running down her face. "I don't wanna die! Please! Hold me!"

Zelos's glove was beginning to slip.

"Give me the other hand!"

Alice desperately gave him her other hand. "I beg you! I'm sorry… Don't let me fall!"

"OK! OK! Hold on!" Zelos was beginning to feel sorry for the poor girl. "Everything will be fine!"

Using all his might Zelos pulled Alice out of danger, lowering her safely to the floor. She embraced Zelos and began to sob over his chest. Concerned, Zelos lifted her chin with a hand to see how she was. When he lifted her head he could swear that he saw the devil itself in her glance for a second. Her pupils were contracted like tips of pins and a sadist grin showed her fangs. Before he was able to react, Alice used all her might to push him through the window.

"Haha! How innocent! I can't believe you fell for the _damsel in distress_ number. Idiot!"

"You little dirty whore!" Zelos shouted clinging at the edge trying not to fall. "That's how you repay me!?"

"You have made a good point. Since you've been nice with me I'll be nice with you." Alice said while she lifted her feet ready to stomp his fingers. "I'll give you a chance. Do you want to be my pet!?"

"Leave my brother alone, you crazy bitch!"

Alice turned her head surprised by the female voice. "Uh?" But as soon as she saw a pink-haired girl two hands pushed her through the window making her fall from the high building.

"Aaaaaaaahhh!"

Zelos heard the girl's scream until it abruptly stopped. He didn't have the guts to turn his head to check the unavoidable fate of the blonde girl. Deep down he felt sorry for her but nothing could be done. She was dead now and he was going to have the same fate if nobody helped him. "Some help here?"His sister and Regal managed to pull him over the floor. "It was close…" He said breathing heavily.

"Are you OK Zelos?" Regal asked. "Those windows are dangerous. We should do something about it."

_*Whhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeee*_

After hearing the strange sound coming from the outside everyone looked through the window.

"You must be fucking kidding me." Zelos said not really believing what he was seeing.

Alice was flying over a big, purple, balloon like monster. "Why? Aren't you happy to see that Alice is fine…?" She said in an obviously faked sad voice. "You are so mean… Anyway I got to go. Ta-ta…"

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"Is he laughing at us!?" One of the guards shouted. "Finish him!"

"I'm afraid I can no longer waste my time with you." Decus said arrogantly. "My beloved waits for me."

"What are you talking about!? You won't be able to pass!"

Decus aimed the guards with the lance. "Like a woman's heart, every wall has a weak spot." Then he ran toward the guards.

"Keep the positions! He will end impaled!"

"Look at this. I'll only do it once!" Decus leaned the lance in the floor and using it as a pole launched his body over the surprised guards, landing in the elevator with his arms open wide. "Am I not the most impressive guy in this world or what?"

"Take him!"

The elevator closed the doors before the guards were able to turn around. "What a bunch of losers." He said smiling, but the smile faded as soon as he arrived to the main floor. Ten guards were aiming at his chest with their crossbows. "Hello? This isn't the ball room isn't it?"

The only response he got was a lot of red shining dots aiming at his chest and the sound of the crossbows secures being removed.

_"May the merciless embrace of frost take thee!"_

"Fire!" A guard ordered.

"_Absolute!"_

Abruptly some sharp icicles came out from nowhere wounding deadly the guards how weren't fast enough to get away of the lethal ice attack.

"Decus!"

"Alice!"

"Come out!" Alice said from the outside of the building. "Let's get out of here."

"I'm coming my dear!" Decus walked over the wounded guards making them scream in pain. "I can't believe that you've come for me!"

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing, just that-" But he suddenly stopped. Alice had a red shining dot on her chest. He didn't need to think twice. He put himself in the trajectory. An arrow drilled his back making him fall in knees in front of Alice's disbelieving eyes.

"Decus!" Alice knelt to see how her lover was. The arrow had hit him in the shoulder. She stood up and put herself between the guard and Decus. "You!" She aimed at the guard with a murderous look while he reloaded his weapon. "A Season in Hell!" A bolt hit him sending him several feet backwards making him either unconscious or dead.

"Ah!" Decus tried to pull out the arrow only managing to break it. "Damn!"

"Can you walk?"

"Yeah… Shhhh… Gaaaaaaah!" Though the wound wasn't mortal it was still painful, and any involuntary movement of the arm was followed by an intense pain. "I'm OK… It's just a superficial wound."

"Aramis!" The rounded beast landed at Alice's command.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I thought that you wouldn't make it." Richer said when he saw Aramis.

"What a lack of trust…" Alice said in a hurt voice. "We had some problems but no one important was injured."

"Where are the documents?" Richter asked.

Decus landed, complaining a little, and gave the object to Richter and explained how left the place as soon as he got it.

"What about a thank you!" Decus demanded touching his shoulder.

"I've no one to thank!" Richter said as he entered the base. "It's your job."

"Being grateful wouldn't kill you!" Alice protested.

"Since when do you care?" Richter asked.

Alice took a back step. "I-I don't care. But I won't let you treat him like that." Decus smiled. "That's my job!" Decus looked down again.

"Whatever…" He said finally leaving.

Alice entered the Vanguard's building followed by Decus.

As always, even being wounded, Decus accompanied Alice to her room but when he was about to go to the hospital wing, Alice told him to enter her room. Hospital wing or Alice's room? For Decus the answer was obvious; his arm could wait. Once they entered the room Alice looked to both sides of the corridor and closed the door.

"Remove your jacket and your shirt." She ordered.

"Alice! I would love to." Decus said in a singing voice. "But you've drank a lot and I can't take advantage of you. That wouldn't be fair."

"What are you talking about!? Are you dumb!?" She said as she took a black box.

"The torture kit!" Decus exclaimed joyfully as she took out some instruments of pain. "So you still keep my gift of Valentine's day after all."

Decus was smiling at her. "You never know when you'll need to torture someone." He was still smiling. The doors were closed and she had her torture kit. Any other person in the same position would be in fear. But he was just smiling and looking happily at her. Like he knew that she wouldn't do anything bad to him. Were they that close? Alice took a hook-like knife and put herself at Decus back. Not even a question. He was at her mercy, she could kill him if she wanted but he just waited for her to do the next movement. And she did. She smiled as she began to cut his flesh, but she didn't enjoy it. He was bleeding, but she didn't like it. He was moaning in pain but… no… She actually felt tingly. But she began to worry anyway, and she wasn't sure why she was feeling tingly and if it was good or bad.

"Something wrong?" Decus asked.

"No! I was taking a close look to the wound. That's all." Luckily for her, she was at his back so he couldn't see her sudden blush. What was wrong with her? Finally she healed his wound with her healing powers. "Done!"

Decus turned around and took her hands with his. "Thank you Alice."

Alice looked at their hands for a moment and felt even weirder. "Don't be silly." She said still looking at their hands. "It's not the first time I've healed you for doing stupid things." She finally took her hands away. "When will you stop? It won't make me love you! And you could die."

"I couldn't allow it to happen! What if the arrow hit you in the heart?"

"I could have dodged it!" She protested defensively, well aware of her lie.

"I couldn't take that risk. I would die without you. So I would prefer to die for you." Decus explained.

"Stop it Decus." Alice demanded. "The wound is already healed and my head is beginning to hurt more than usual with your words."

"I told you. You shouldn't drink alcoholic drinks."

"I'll drink whatever I want. Now just leave my room!"

"As you wish." He took his clothes and opened Alice's door. "I'll bring you some headache pills tomorrow."

"Idiot! Put your clothes on before leaving!" But it was too late. Marta was already blushing and looking at them with a disbelieving look.

"A-Alice… Decus…" She said looking at his naked abdomen and Alice lying in the mattress as she tried to match the pieces in her young and innocent mind.

"Hey Marta!" Decus said smiling. "How are you doing?"

Marta covered her red face and ran away as fast as her legs would let her.

"Get out of here immediately before someone else sees you!" Alice shouted, closing the door. She took a deep breath as she dropped herself on the bed. "That idiot… As if rumors weren't already bad enough."

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_**R&R**_

**Hints:**

**1º Decus being the agent 86. The "agent 86" is the protagonist of an old parody show. Like 007 but in comedy.**

**2º The password "**_1-12-9-3-9-1_."**= A-L-I-C-I-A (Regal's dead girlfriend)**

**3º Greensleeves: An old love song about an ****unrequited love.**

**Note:** **Why did I make Alice use a spoon as a weapon?**

**Well from my PoV any spell-caster as Alice need something to channel her spells. Otherwise her own spell could hurt her. If you launch a bolt or flame ball with your hand you'll burn your own hand. That's why you need to use something to channel the spell.**


	4. A Season in Hell

**Set in game. When Presea attacked Alice at Altamira.**

* * *

**A Season in Hell**

* * *

Decus was having a really bad day. First of all, he wasn't able to fulfill his mission; in second place he had been sent to the earth temple through a demonic portal that Ratatosk had made. A stalker, cry-baby brat like him didn't deserve such powers. It was completely unfair. It was frustrating to see how years of hard training to be the perfect bodyguard were useless against a brat who barely was able to wave a sword and hadn't trained in his whole life, just because he had had some kind of crazy luck. He and Alice had worked very hard to become who they were, and now two kids were able to stand against them just because Martel had smiled at them. The goddess had a weird sense of humor. And in third place he got lost in the Lezareno's exphere mines.

However if Decus had known what he would find when he arrived to Altamira, he wouldn't have cared for those little setbacks.

Decus was finally arriving to Altamira when his cell phone began to sound. "Hi my lovely princess, you don't know how happy I am to be able to hear your sweet voice" "So you succeed!" "Well I had some problems in the mines and I got lost but" "Well yeah, I understand but" "No, no! I'm not trying to make excuses." "Sorry… I completely forgot about it, I didn't take any exphere" "Yeah? Really!? A date!" "Well, you know, what would you call two people in a romantic underground mine searching for expheres?" "Well… I guess that makes sense too. Though I love the idea anyway" "Yep… In thirty minutes" "OK. You know Alice… I'm really happy to see that you have chosen me for-- Alice? Alice!?" Decus closed the caller. "Weird, I guess she has lost the signal."

(…)

_Once, if I remember rightly, my life was a feast where all hearts opened, and all wines flowed. One evening I sat Beauty on my knees. And I found her bitter. And I reviled her. I armed myself against Justice. I fled. O sorceresses, O misery, O hatred, it was to you my treasure was entrusted! I managed to erase all human hope from my mind._

(…)

When Decus arrived at Altamira he saw what it seemed to be a pool of coagulated blood, but he didn't give to it any notice. After all it was the Vanguard and death was something he had become used seeing.

When he entered in the newly acquired base he saw a group of members having a conversation. They seemed a little nervous.

"I didn't expect what happened to Hawk." One of the soldiers said.

"No… It was really tragic," A woman said almost crying. "He really was a great superior."

"Yeah." Said other soldier in a sad voice, but he suddenly cheered up. "Did you hear what has happened to Alice? I can't believe it! I thought that Martel was never going to tend my prayers!"

"The truth is that the bitch deserved it!" a blonde woman said. "I know is wrong but… I- I wish she dies!"

"Hawk already said it." Other soldier said. "Someone like her was only tempting death. It was just a matter of time. The karma finally did its job." He finished smiling proudly.

"Yeah… And don't say that it was wrong to wish death upon someone like her. After all, if there is someone in the world who deserved that; that person is Alice. I only hope she doesn't survive." One of them said. "By the way… Do you know who the idiot was who warned the hospital wing?"

"Yeah. I think it was Richter who found her, but I really don't know why. As far as I know Richter didn't get along with Alice. I would have let her dead by blood lost. It's the painful kind of death that someone like her deserves."

"Yep… If he had let her there, she would be dead now, and we wouldn't need to wait to know if--" but before he ended the sentence, one of his companions stomped his foot. "Ow! What was that for? What's wrong with you!?"

The soldier pointed behind him. "Decus." She whispered.

"Decus?" He asked. "Well… Yeah, he has been a little weird lately." The woman denied with her head. "Oh… You mean that he'll be sad. Yeah… Poor guy."

All the soldiers looked at him in disbelieve.

"What? What's wrong? I know Decus, is very plausible."

"What's very plausible?" The leader of the espionage division asked.

The soldier froze when he heard the voice. Normally he wouldn't have been scared. Decus was known for being much more comprehensible than his companions: Brute, Richter or the most feared one, Alice. But lately, scaring rumors were being heard all throughout the Vanguard. Rumors about Decus beating his own soldiers until they were almost dead.

"Ah, hmmm…well, you see…" The soldier swallowed. "We have had an accident." He had to choose his words if he didn't want to end hurt, so he decided to find some help in his companions. "Right, partners?" But when he turned his head, there was no one to be seen.

"Well. I don't really care." Decus said in good mood. "Have you seen your leader? Alice and I have something to do." He said smiling and winking.

"Well, I'm sorry to be the one telling you this but… Alice has suffered a terribly attack and she is now being attended to."

Decus' world stopped. It just stopped. He couldn't believe what he had heard. "What!?" His mind was just unable to process the information.

"Someone attacked her from behind."

"No," Decus stepped back. "No, not to Alice… It can't be." He began to breath faster and harder as some tears come out of his eyes.

Decus pushed the guard aside and began to run, trampling anyone who was in his way. He finally grabbed a soldier by the collar and lifted him some inches from the ground.

"Where is it!?"

"What!?" De soldier asked in fear.

"The hospital wing! Where is it!?"

"D—down-- downstairs sir."

The purple-haired released the soldier and ran downstairs. Due the hurry and the fact that his vision blurred with tears he wasn't able to see correctly and stumbled, falling rolling down the stairs. But that didn't stop him.

"ALICE!"

He kept running until he saw some people dressed with white coats. The closer he was the more afraid he felt.

"No…no way…" He choked, denying what his eyes saw. "Alice…"

He entered in the room, pushing aside anyone who was between him and his beloved. "Out of my way!"

Terrified and impotent. Those were the only words to describe how he felt when he saw her. Her eyes were closed, her smile gone. Her once pink face had lost all its life and was as pale as the sheets that covered her body. The blossoming and full of life flower she once was, was now dying before his eyes and there was nothing he could do but grab her hand and cry pathetically, pleading for her life. He couldn't stop repeating the same sentence over and over again: "I failed you. This is all my fault!"

A doctor grabbed his shoulder. "We are not done yet." Decus looked at him. "Even though we had already healed her wounds, she has lost lots of blood." Decus looked desperate. "We'll do as much as we can. But right now we need you to stay outside and let us do our work. Do you understand?" Decus seemed to be out of the world. "Do you understand!?" The doctor asked a second time.

He rose up, looking at her one more time before leaving room, walking slowly. He sat on the floor outside the room. "Why? Why her and not me!? Why do you keep doing those things to her!? Haven't you already have enough fun with her disgraces?"

Decus keep silently cursing and demanding answers until he saw two familiar boots followed by a dark brown suit and a long red mane. His blood began to boil.

Richter entered in a room and as soon as he closed the door, he heard it open again. "I don't remember asking you to follow me." He said arrogantly not even bother to look who was. "Why are you here!?"

"You!" Decus said in a dangerous voice. "You are the culprit... This is all your fault!"

"What are you babbling about?"

"How can you act like that!" Decus ran toward Richter lifting his arm, ready to punch him. The half-elf was barely able dodged the attack, but before Decus was able to launch other hit Richter grabbed his arm and immobilized him on the floor.

"It's not my fault that the fool was so careless!" He shouted already joining the pieces in his mind.

But Decus didn't want to hear his explanations. "I won't tolerate you talking so disrespectfully about her in my presence!" Alice was half dead and Richter didn't seem to be concerned about her. "How could you! Don't you dare insult her!"

Decus twisted violently his body. Richter couldn't believe it. _"Is he going to break his own arm!?"_

*CLACK*

With his right elbow dislocated Decus was able to move enough to nudge Richter's face with his left arm, making him step back a few feet. Before the half-elf was able to recover, Decus kneed him in the stomach.

"Everything was going fine until we meet you!" Decus shouted, graving his own elbow in pain.

Richter furiously pushed Decus against the wall and pressed his face against it. "My patience has a limit, and you have surpassed it!"

"You filled her head with that bullshit!" Decus shouted trying to move. "It is all your fault! And the Vanguard! Our lives were fine until we meet you and your damn organization!"

"No one forced her to join us!" Richter was fighting to keep him immobilized. "And you followed her!"

"I just joined to protect her! And- and- and…" Decus couldn't keep it any longer. "And I wasn't there…" He stopped forcing against Richter and knelt, breaking in tears.

"I- I- I pro- pro… I promised her…" His words where choked by the tears. He wasn't even able to talk properly. "I promised her that I would be always at her side!" He screamed full of rage.

Decus rose up violently. Richter put a defensive position but this time the target wasn't him but his sword. Decus took Richter's sword and aimed his own heart.

"I'm a failure! If I can't protect her, I don't deserve to live!" Decus proclaimed aloud with tears all over his face.

Richter knew he wasn't joking. But it didn't make sense. All the time he has spend with the purple-haired guy was enough to know what he was able to do but this was too much even for him. Richter couldn't help but believe that it has something to do with the secondary effects of the absence of Solum's Core. Richter reacted as soon as Decus closed his eyes to stab himself. With one hand he took the weapon and punched him as fast as he could with the other.

Decus fell to the ground. He felt pathetic, he wasn't even able to kill himself successfully.

"Stand up!" Richter shouted angrily. "That's how you solve your problems? Running away like a coward!?" If there was something that Richter hated more than anything else, it was suicide. Only cowards kill themselves to run away from their problems. There is no honor in the suicide, just cowardice.

"Shut it up!" Decus shouted getting up. "Stop talking like you knew everything! Is too easy to talk like that when you don't love anyone! How could you know how I feel!? YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF WHAT IT'S TO BE NEAR TO LOSE THE ONE YOU LOVE!"

*CLACK*

"Aaaaah!"

Richter repositioned his elbow to shut him up. He was about to shout again when he remembered something that happened to him a few years ago. Then he understood how he felt.

"Believe it or not, I do." He said in a serious and melancholic voice. "I lost someone dear to me. That's why I know that you won't get anything by killing yourself!" Decus looked at him in disbelieve. "How will you protect her in the future if you kill yourself here!?"

"What… How was I even able to think to do something like that? What the hell is wrong with me?" He muttered holding his head back to his senses. "How could I've been so selfish…"

"Be strong and hold the pain!" Richter encouragingly said. "But you already know this, don't you?"

Decus dried his tears with his arm and left the room, not without looking back before leaving. "Thank you."

Richter just nodded. _"I'm sure that it wasn't him. That reaction was caused by Solum's Core… If those attacks keep growing, we might need to take drastic actions."_ He thought.

Once Decus left the room Aqua appeared before the half-elf.

"Are you OK Master Richter?" The Centurion asked concerned.

"Yeah…"

She wasn't really convinced by his answer and she knew how much he dislike talk about his past. Bad memories. So she decided to change the subject.

"Nice speech by the way!" She said, trying to cheer him up. It didn't work. "I thought you disliked people like Decus."

"Not at all." He sincerely answered. "He seems to be just a lap dog. But no one put that chain to him. He did it himself and gave it to only one person."

"Chain yourself, be chained… You wear a chain anyway. Is there any difference?"

"One as big as hell and heaven…"

(…)

_On the roads, on winter nights, without shelter, without clothing, without bread, a voice would clutch my frozen heart: 'Weakness or strength: with you it's strength. You don't know where you're going or why you're going: go everywhere, react to everything. They won't kill you any more than if you were a corpse.'_

(...)

Decus was going to Alice's room with a book under his arm when he accidentally kicked a vanguard member's mask. Carefully he picked it up and kept going to his destination.

The mask was broken and it had some dry blood. He didn't care a lot about all this war, and he only joined the Vanguard to be near Alice and prove himself to her, but he wondered how many people have died for this. Most of the vanguard soldiers had families, friends, and some of them even had children. They fought for what they thought it was right, as anyone else, but some people saw them as monsters, and so they killed them like they weren't even humans. Decus wondered what kind of person could be so egocentric to kill others and think that they were the good ones. They were selfish, that was their excuse. What kind of person could do anything for their ideals as they did and consider themselves less selfish than them. But Decus already knew those people. They were too proud of themselves to see any other point of view but their own. He didn't blame them for what they did, they were just as them, but he hated to see how they thought so high of themselves, as if they were better than anyone else. Alice was right, they were just hypocrites.

"I guess that kill someone faceless makes it all easier for them." Decus said casually throwing the mask to the dump.

Decus finally arrived to the room when a doctor stopped him. "Sir, are you Decus?"

"Yes I'm. Why?"

"OK. Sorry, I'm new and I don't know all the faces." He answered, smiling. "Well Alice signed that no one but _Decus_ should be able to enter in her room if she was unconscious or badly wounded. Just to be sure: What is your surname?"

Decus looked at him with a weir look. "It's a long story but we-- Alice and I don't have surnames."

"OK. Good answer. I just wanted to be sure. And don't worry, she'll be fine." The young doctor said leaving the room.

Decus finally entered in the room and took a seat beside his beloved. Though she still was unconscious, her skin had almost recovered its full color. He took out his right glove and tenderly caressed her soft cheek. He hated himself for taking advantage of her. He could have kissed her lips, but he didn't want to steal a kiss from her when she was like that.

He kept looking silently at her for some more time. Finally he took the book out he brought with him.

Since Alice was little, she had always liked reading books. Maybe because it helped her to avoid the cruel reality of the orphanage. Decus remembered that Alice's love for reading began with: _The three musketeers_. Book that Decus decided to read to her for all the nights. He smiled when he remembered Alice's smile and laughs when he dramatized the story with voices (one different for each character: D'Artagnan, Aramis, Athos, Porthos…) and performances. Maybe one of the few memories of that place that deserved to be remembered.

Decus had a hard time trying to find a book to read. It took him some time: _The red and the black, War and Peace, The three musketeers…_ Until he finally decided for one: _A season in hell_ by _Arthur Rimbaud._

Decus then began to read the book to make her know that she wasn't alone.

Time passed and he kept reading without noticing that two golden eyes were nowlooking at him.

Maybe it was due all the drugs but she actually was liking it. It had been too long since Decus narrated something for her but she couldn't blame him for that. As he kept reading memories of the orphanage came back to her mind. When they were together, when she didn't need to deny what she felt, when she still had hope.

Suddenly she yawned. When Alice noticed it she put her hands over her mouth but it was already too late.

"Alice! You are finally are awake!" Decus said throwing the book and standing up ready to hug her. "I was really worried about you."

"Wow, wow, wow! Not so fast Dumbo-Decus!" She exclaimed back to her senses moving to the opposite side of the bed. "I'm not that bad."

Decus was disappointed by Alice's reaction but after all this time he hadn't expect a much better treatment. Besides, her well being was more than enough to make him smile and one more rejection wasn't enough to get him down.

Alice sat up in the bed, ready to leave.

"Need some help?"

"Why should I need any- aaaaaaah!" When she put her feet on the floor she almost fell. Her legs couldn't stand her own weigh if it wasn't for Decus, who was fast enough to catch, her she would have had a painful fall.

"Alice. You okay?" Decus asked lifting her and putting her arm around his shoulder.

"Yeah. If I see Hawk I'll teach him two or three things."

"Alice…" Decus said in an unusually serious voice. "Hawk is dead."

"What!?" Alice asked, not believing his words. "Hawkie has been killed?"

"We don't know who did it. He was stabbed at the back." Decus knew Alice didn't care a lot about her pets, but she really didn't like to see anyone breaking her toys. "When he was found, he had already lost a lot of blood. They couldn't do anything."

Alice looked sad for a second. "I can't believe that idiot let himself be killed so easily."

"I'm sorry."

Alice looked annoyed. "Don't be! There is nothing to be sorry about. That's what happens when you are weak."

Decus was worried. He hated seeing Alice like that. He knew that those kinds of events only pushed her further in her search of power. And he couldn't help but think that something really bad, worst than any other thing that had happened to her, was going to happen. And he was afraid, afraid of not being able to do anything about it.

Decus helped Alice to leave the room but after looking the sight that some Vanguard soldiers were giving to them, Alice left Decus and tried to walk by herself. "I can do it alone," she said. Walking weirdly, she headed to the exit.

Alice continued her path until she was out of the building.

She kept walking in the darkness, only illuminated by the dim moon's light until she arrived to the beach. The smell of the sea matching with the sound of the swinging waves was reassuring.

She didn't know what to think anymore. She had been denying it for far too long. To him, to herself. She thought that maybe if she kept denying it, the feelings would somehow just disappear. She had been wrong. She treated him like trash trying to prove that she didn't feel anything for him. But each day keep that farce was more and more difficult.

"Alice…" Alice didn't notice that Decus had been approaching.

"I already told you. I'm fine." She said, annoyed. "He just died for being weak."

Decus come closer to her, closer than usual. But this time Alice didn't complain about it. Maybe she didn't notice, maybe she didn't really care. "I've been thinking about it and-- and I want to quit."

Alice looked at him. The moonlight illuminated her porcelain skin as the breeze caressed her frail hair. "What are you talking about?"

"I want to leave the Vanguard," He said looking at her honey eyes. "And I want you to leave it with me."

"I won't." She said with conviction. "I'm not going to run away just because things are getting difficult."

"I don't want to see how you put your life in danger." Decus didn't want to argue with her, but it seemed the only way. "I'm sure that there must be other ways to gain power."

"And what do you want me to do!? Do you want me to hide!?" She asked indignantly. "I need that power. Don't you see what happens to the weak? It doesn't matter what Martmart and hers stupid companions say. Those hypocrites--" She said, hate filling voice. "It doesn't matter what they say, even they use the power to do what they want. They just kill people because they believe that their motivations are better. I won't let them do that to me!" Her hand closed in a fist. "I'm not going to let a gang of pretentious idealists tell me how to live my life. I haven't got so far to surrender now."

"But Alice-- What if something happens to you." He said almost pleading. "You don't need to push yourself so far."

She looked at Decus. "Do you believe that the goddess will do anything for us!? Do you think that if the goddess existed she would have let my parents to die, quartered by monsters!? Did she ever answer to your prayers when all the other kids abused you at the orphanage Decus!? Did she!?" Decus began to feel ashamed. "When everyone abused us just for being different, did anyone help us!? No! No one did!" Decus could feel some sadness in Alice's angered voice. "Go ahead. Run away as a coward! I don't care!" The voice was sadder each time. "Turn your bak. Betray me." she said in an almost inaudible voice.

It happened all too fast that she didn't know how to react. A second ago she was free, and now she was between Decus arms.

"I would die for you." He whispered softly. "I would turn my back to the world for you Alice."

Though Decus couldn't see it her eyes were wide open. Her mind and her heart were fighting in an epic battle as tears were trying to come out of her eyes. Between his arms she felt secure, she felt full, she felt warm, she felt loved. "Decus…" But at the same time she began to feel weak, vulnerable, almost at his merci. The panic began to take over her mind and with a fast movement, she left his embrace and pushed him away and slapped him with all her might. She slapped him so hard that her hand began to burn. But he deserved it for making her feel like that. "How dare you." Alice said pointing Decus, who was now touching his cheek with his trembling hand. "Don't come close to me. I- I hate you." She finished as she left the place, running without looking back.

Decus looked at the sky for an answer. As soon as he did it a raindrop wet his face and in less than thirty seconds, it began to rain. He looked at the sky with hate and screamed until he couldn't sceam anymore.

Alice stopped for a second but kept walking soon again, erasing all her thoughts and refusing even having it. She wasn't going to be weak.

_(…)_

"'_Priests, professors, masters, you're wrong to hand me over to justice. I've never been part of this race. I've never been a believer: I'm of the race that sings under torture: I don't understand the law: I've no moral sense, I'm a brute: you're wrong…' __Yes, I've shut my eyes to your light."_

_(…)_

Decus just kept kneeling looking now to the moist sand and a frenzied sea. He was completely soaked but he didn't care, he just kept punching they sand. "Damn it!" And then, when he wasn't expecting it, someone softly kicked him. When he turned his head he saw a moist, annoyed, and irritated face looking at him.

"Hey! Come on." Alice ordered frowning. "Stop being a drama queen and stand up! This isn't a teenager story."

Decus smiled. She wasn't being kind. But at least she cared enough to come back for him.

"Stop looking at me like a lap dog." She said already leaving him.

Decus quickly rose up and ran after her. "It must be truth! The Iron-Maiden is working. Only twenty more days!" He finished in a dreamy singsong voice.

"Keep dreaming… Just don't come any closer."

She didn't know what to think. Her mind was a mess, but she still had a lot of time to rearrange her mind. Besides, in the good times and in the bad ones he had, and he always will be with her. And deep down, she was thankful for that.

* * *

**Author notes:**

**1º  
****Now something curious about Alice and why I called the fic ****A season in hell****. These are the names some Alice's attacks:**

_**-The red and the black.**__**  
**__**-A Season in Hell.**__**  
**__**-War and Peace.**_****

Do you know what they have in common? I'm sure some of you have already noticed it. The three are famous classics books. Also Alice's pets: Aramis, Athos and Porthos; are named as _**The three musketeers**_**. It seems that Alice liked to read. So I decided to call this chapter "A season in Hell" in honor of my favourite Alice's attack and to this great book. I put some phrases of this book to separate the events instead of a line.**

Other hint about Alice's attacks. Not all are book names like these:

-Exalted Flesh and Blood. (Erhöhtes Fleisch Und Blut)  
-Winter daydreams.

Those are two are two famous classics musical compositions:_**Exalted flesh and blood (Erhöhtes Fleisch Und Blut)**_** was composed by ****Johann Sebastian Bach****. And **_**Winter daydreams**_** by**__**Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky****.******

**Alice is an interesting character.**

**Reviews. **


	5. Ein normaler Tag

Ein normaler Tag

**(…)**

**Author notes: OK. I want to write a DecusxAlice long fic. But before get into that work, I want to know how many support I have. Since I want to write that fic, I would like you to show me your support by reviewing this chapter. As a DecusxAlice fan I do the fics for myself, but as a writer I do the fics to be read. So I need to see that people care to do it.**

(…)

"Here we are." Richter said aloud. "The earth temple."

"Really? That's it?" Alice asked casually. "I expected something more. It seems more like a normal canyon to me."

"We are not here to enjoy the landscape." Richter annotated. "Let's take what we have come to take and--" but he was soon cut by a loud scream.

"ALIIIIIIIIIICE!"

She knew that voice.

"Impossible." Alice and Richter said in unison.

Decus was coming running toward them with his Iron Maiden in one hand and waving the other.

He stopped, lifting a sand cloud behind him.

"Hey Alice!" He said and stopped to take a breath. "I… I… Wait…" He bent over, trying to catch his breath. He took a deep breath, and then started talking again. "I hope you didn't miss me." He said smiling with self confidence, with a hand under his chin. Then he bowed again put a hand against a wall began to breathe fast again.

"Alice!" Richter said. "Did you tell him anything?"

"What!" Alice asked looking almost wounded. "Why would I say anything to that!" She said pointing at Decus with a disgusted look.

"You don't need to put on an act in front of him, my little cookie." The purple-haired guy said smiling. "He already knows about our 'thing."

"Our thing?" Alice asked. "There is nothing between you and me!"

"Before you continue with this," Richter interrupted, "would you mind explaining how you found us?"

Decus smiled and closed his eyes. "I just followed my heart. Nothing can separate me from my beloved."

Alice looked at him with her eyes half opened. "You came running following Aramis, didn't you?"

Decus smile faded. "Yeah…"

"STOP!" A strange voice said.

"Who said that!" Decus asked confused looking around.

"I DID!"

"Who?"

"DOWN HERE YOU IDIOT!" The voice yelled, clearly annoyed.

When Decus looked down he saw a little human being with green hair. "What's that thing?" He asked pointing to the little being.

"I think that's a gnome." Richter said.

"No. Imma gnomelette. And none of ya can pass through here."

"Hahahaha!" Decus laughed. "And who is going to impede us passing through here. You?" Decus asked amused pushing the little being chest with a finger. The gnomelette looked annoyed at him and took his finger "Uh…?" And lifting Decus up in the air threw him against the floor.

"That's what happens when cha annoy a gnomelette." The little being proclaimed smiling.

"Pathetic." Alice said with a disappointed look.

"Gnomelettes have seven times the strength of a human being." Richter explained to the defeated Decus.

Decus lifted and took out his jacket. "I can't let my honor be trampled. You won't make me look bad before my beloved. You took me off guard. I'll make you pay for that."

Then the epic fight between the little gnomelette and Decus began.

Decus tried to crush the gnomelette with his shoe, who reacting fast jumped backwards avoiding the stomp. Decus then began to trampling the ground as fast as he could but the gnome kept dodging his attacks.

"That's all ya have!" The little green haired being asked, taunting Decus.

"Die already!"

Richter and Alice just watched with an incredulous look.

Decus kept his mad attacks until the clould of dust that he raised didn't let him see.

"Where? Where did it go?" He asked looking around.

"It!" Said the gnomelette in an irritated voice. "Ya should watch yer vocabulary."

"AAAAAAH! My back! It's on my back!" He said trying to catch the gnomelette moving around in circles.

Richter watched with his mouth half open, as Alice covered her face, too ashamed to.

After a few seconds Decus finally took the little being and threw him against his Iron-Maiden smashing his head against it and making it lose its balance.

"Ow!" The gnome complained scratching his head. "I'm going to…" But before he ended the sentence the heavy torture-charm fell over the gnomelette crushing him under five hundred pounds of iron.

"Poor little thing…" Decus muttered.

"Poor thing? You were trying to kill him five seconds ago!" Alice exclaimed.

"Yeah but… It makes me kind of sad. I'm sure that he was hungry, and that he felt alone." Decus looked at the blue sky and closed his eyes. "Farewell nameless gnome."

Then the Iron-Maiden began to move.

"What! You can't be serious!" Decus exclaimed. He quickly jumped on it and tried to use his own weight to smash the gnomelette. "In the name of Martel I command you to die! Die! DIE!"

The gnome finally lifted the Iron Maiden and Decus along with it. "My name is Gathanchkareejai' Thanzchanetk of Kassaikanet!" and threw both through the air.

Decus soon got up and took a defensive position. "I'm not done yet." Then he began to make ninja-movie like movements. "I warn you. I'm a master of the ancient art of origami."

"Of making paper figures?" Richter asked with a bored voice.

"Great! Now he knows what it means." Decus groaned. "Anyway… Where did it go?" Decus began to search again. "It was just here. Where is it?"

He then noticed something beginning to climb under his pants. "Don't go there!" He said as he noticed that the gnome was climbing directly to his crotch. "Wait! Wait! We still can talk! Don't! Don't!"

Then a loud stroke was heard through all the canyon. After that, nothing. Just silence.

Richter instinctively looked pained.

Decus face turned completely red and some tears began to go down his check as he made some weird, breathless sounds.

Decus knelt looking to Alice's careless look. "A-A-Alice…"

"Pathetic." Was all she said.

His pant zipper opened and the gnome jumped out before Decus fell over, finally defeated. The fight was over.

"Yay!" The gnome said jumping on Decus celebrating his victory. "I'm da strongest!"

"I'm sure that this was fun but we need to pass." Richter informed to the exalted gnome. "I'm sure that we could reach some agreement."

"OK." The gnome said interested in the offer. "If ya give me something pretty and soft I will let you pass."

"We don't have anything that fits that description. Don't you want anything else?"

The gnome blushed and smiled. "Her puffy shorts." He said pointing to Alice. "Those pink bloomers seem soft."

Alice's teeth began to whir.

"And they're so pretty." The gnome kept saying while drooling and smiling with a self confident look.

Alice closed her fist and smiled in a terrifying way.

"So what cha say?" Asked the gnome looking to Alice who was approaching to him. "Do we have a deal babe?"

Alice kicked the gnome with all her might sending him through the sky and making him fall though the pit, meeting his death.

(…)

"It seems that the path is divided." Richter said to Decus and Alice, who were discussing about why Alice didn't want to use her healing powers in certain part of the blue haired man's body.

"Wait a moment Richter, we are having a pair discussion." Decus said not even looking at the red haired half-elf.

"You are a pervert for asking me something like that!" Alice said exalted. "And this is not a pair discussion!"

"Well… You are two, and you are discussing." A feminine voice said laughing. "That makes you have a pair discussion."

"Who said that!" Alice shouted, she didn't like being related with Decus in front of anyone. "Show yourself coward!"

"Are you sure?" The mysterious voice asked. "OK, as you wish."

And abruptly a giant three headed hydra come out of nowhere screaming aloud looking at Alice, who scared by the unexpected monster appear graved Decus' arm instinctively. Decus reacted fast and quickly embraced Alice protectively and put himself between the monster fangs and Alice.

Alice couldn't believe it "Decus don't…" But it was already too late.

But before the creature closed on Decus, the monster become a huge pile of water and soaked them both.

"What…" Alice was out of words.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The mysterious voice laughed.

Alice put aside Decus. A blue girl like being was floating and laughing embracing her tummy.

Alice, all soaked, become as red as a tomato. The feeling, those that she tried so hard to hide and deny all the time, had just sprung for a brief moment, even if it had been for a second, it was enough to remind her what she felt. And that annoyed her to no end.

"You..." She said aiming at the blue creature with her toy rapier. "I will kill you! A SEASON IN--"

"Alice, wait!" Decus shouted taking the toy rapier with one hand.

"What are you doing idiot!"

"You are all soaked." Decus tried to explain. "If you finish the spell you will end up electrocuting yourself."

Alice though about it twice and after a few seconds she pulled the whip out of his hand. "Fine!"

"Oh my goddess!" The being said drying some tears. "Did you see her expression Richter? It was all: 'Oh, protect me, my prince!' Hahahaha!"

"No it wasn't!" Alice denied, trying to find some justification for what she did. "I… I was just using him as a shield!"

That broke Decus' heart a little more.

"I just wanted you to eat him so I could win some time!" Alice finished.

"Yeah… Yeah… Suuuuuuure. What about a third opinion? What do you think Richter?"

Alice looked at Richter with a disbelieving look "Do you know that thing?" She asked pointing to the blue girl like being.

"I'm not a thing, you bratty girl! I'm a lady!" She said annoyed. "I'm Aqua! The great Centurion of water!"

"Yeah sure… When was the last time you looked at yourself? You look nothing like a lady. You look more like a flying ugly fish."

"Me! Ugly!" Aqua shouted. "I'm much cuter than you."

"Yeah sure… Do you want a third opinion?" She asked with a taunting smile. "Who think that I'm the cutest girl of the world?" Alice lifted her hand and she soon was followed by Decus. "Who thinks that the old fish is cute?" She asked with a bored voice. Only Aqua lifted her hand. "Alice wins!" The golden haired girl said spinning around.

"That's not fair!" Aqua complained. "Richter do you really think that she is cuter than me?" She asked with a sad seductive voice.

When the centurion looked where her mate should be, he was no longer there. He had already taken a path and began to walk without warning her.

"Richter wait!" Aqua said.

"Richter wait!" Alice imitated.

"Don't repeat what I say!"

"Don't repeat what I say!"

"You are acting like a bratty girl!"

"You are acting like a bratty girl!"

"You are a lost cause!"

"You are a lost cause!"

"Gaaaah!"

"Gaaaah!"

Both screamed at the same time.

"I'm leaving!" Aqua said taking the same path that Richter took.

Alice lowered her lower eyelid and drew out her tongue mocking at Aqua who closed her eyes drew out her tongue.

After their fight, both girls took their own paths; one, following her beloved, and the other, followed by hers.

(…)

"Alice! Alice!" Decus shouted as he ran into the cavern. "Damn… I lost her."

Decus kept walking and shouting her name until he trampled something pappy.

"Ewww…" He said noticing the bad smell. "Disgusting… and on the day I decide to wear my new shoes..." He finished as he scraped his shoe against a rock when he noticed something falling over the black plumage of his jacket. "Ohhh… C'mon, what now?"

He touched the viscous fluid. "This must be the most disgusting cavern I have ever been in." Other drop of the fluid fell over his shoulder. "Oh. C'mon what the hell is going--" He turned around and he saw it.

A giant black lizard was looming over him.

"Wow!" He didn't lose even a second. He opened his Iron-Maiden and took out his sword.

The lizard launched an attack but Decus parried it with the sword.

"Damn you! I'm not going to be your food! You can forget about it!" Decus shouted as the lizard kept attacking him.

Then it did something that lizards don't usually do. It let out a green fire ball. Decus fell on the ground, losing his weapon in the process. The lizard saw an opening and, jumping on top of Decus, tried repeatedly to bite his head. Unable to do it, the lizard took a deep breath. Decus knew what was coming next. He managed to free his hands, and closed the lizard's mouth. Some green smoke poured out of its nose as the lizard moved aside of Decus shaking its head and coughing. Decus didn't waste a second, he took his sword and cut the lizard's head before it was able to attack him again.

"Hahaha! Did you think that you could defeat me, beast of the hell!" He shouted proudly. "No one and nothing can't defeat Decus The Great!"

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH*

Decus turned at the loud scream, and another black lizard, this time ten times bigger than the last one was before him.

With his mouth half open, Decus did something he learned to do when he was at the orphanage: He ran. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" And screamed.

Alice noticed the familiar scream coming from behind.

"Damn… He is already making one of his shows…" She said with an annoyed look.

"ALICEEEEEE!" Decus screamed. "RUN! RUN! RUN!"

"What are you yelling? I'm not going to--" but before she was able to finish the sentence Decus took her, and lifting her up, he put her over his shoulder. "What the--!" Alice was beet red, and instead of ask for an explanation she began to kick in the air and hit his back as an annoyed child would do. "Put me down, you stupid buffoon! Put me dooown!"

"Alice, I can't there is a--"

"I don't care about your explanations. I said put me down!" The she began to kick and hit him faster. "NOOOOOWWWWWWWW!"

Decus had no other option but obey her.

"What the hell where you thinking!" Alice was really red, though Decus couldn't say if it was because of how annoyed she was, or because of the close contact. "What do you think you were doing! When did I told you that you could touch me you damn perv! I had to have seen it coming! It was just a matter of time that a pedophile like you showed his true intentions! I knew that I should have never tr--"

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH*

"What is that?" Alice asked interrupting her rant and looking behind Decus. Then she saw the answer of her question: A giant black dragon. As soon as she saw it she climbed over Decus shoulder with a jump and began to whip madly his ass with her toy rapier. "What are you waiting for! Run! Run! Run!"

"That's what I was trying to explain to you. A giant black lizard is following us!" Decus explained while running again.

"That's a Black Dragon, you idiot!" She answered without stopping her whipping. "I'll stop it with one off my spells!" And she began to chant an incantation. "May the merciless embrace of frost take thee! Absolute!"

An enormous and shattering icicle appeared before the dragon just to be melted in a few seconds later by its burning breath.

Alice couldn't believe it. "RUN FASTER!" She screamed whipping faster his butt checks. "FASTER! FASTER! FASTER!"

"Aliiiiiiice!" The purple-haired exclaimed as he cried. "The whipping in the ass is counterproductive!"

"Less complaining and more running! Now run! Run! RUN!" She shouted without stopping her whipping as she saw how the dragon became closer to them. "RUUUUUUUUUUN!"

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH*

"What's that loud roar?" Richter said out loud.

"Hmm… It sounds like the roar of a Black Dragon." Aqua answered.

Richter was about to reply when he heard two voices. One was a male voice who was complaining and crying, while the other was a female voice that was complaining and demanding.

"I knew it was a bad idea to stick them together."

"Do you think?" Aqua asked smiling. "I think she was quite happy to go with him."

"Do I look like I care about their happiness? Look at them!" He said pointing Decus who was approaching to them really fast while he carried Alice on his shoulder. "Does it seem to you like they are doing their job?"

"Take it easy Richter." Aqua said massaging Richter shoulders. "They are having some fun. Maybe you should learn something from them. Relax."

"Please Aqua, stop what you are doing." Aqua's cheeks turned purple as she stopped her massage.

"Richter, run!" Decus said as he passed Richter.

"Don't waste your energy talking to him!" Alice shouted as she began to whip his butt faster. "Run! Run! Run!"

"Cowards." Richter said with a sneer.

"Richter!" Aqua shouted pointing to the enormous beast.

"This won't take much."

Richter took out his sword a grabbed it with both hands. He closed his eyes and began to recite an incantation as soon as he ended the spell the blade of the sword was covered with infernal flames.

"I'll end this just with one blow!" The red haired half-elf waved his sword in the air leaving a big wave of flames that hit directly in the dragon leaving a big could of smoke.

"It's over." Richter said calmly sheathing his sword.

"You're the best Richter!" Aqua shouted happily.

"There is nothing to be proud about." Richter said readjusting his hair. "It was just a big lizard."

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH*

Richter and Aqua turned their heads to the smoke and watched in disbelief as the screaming dragon emerged out of it.

"Impossible." Richter muttered.

"Richter! Run!" Aqua said trying to pull him with her.

Richter looked at Aqua's worried expression and, after thinking about his options, he decided to run.

It didn't take them too much time to reach Decus and Alice.

"Hmmm…" Alice muttered, smiling evilly as she was being carried. "Look who's running now." She said, stopping the whipping for a moment.

"I'm not running away!" Richter said with an almost imperceptible blush. "This is a strategic retreat."

"Suuuuuuure! And I whip Decus only because I want him to run faster."

"What… What does that mean?" Decus asked while trying to catch his breath.

"It means RUN FASTER!"

Richter and Aqua watched in disbelief how Alice began to whip Decus and how he began to run faster with each whip. It didn't seem a counterproductive method, at least for one of them.

Alice started getting annoyed. "My arm is tired from whipping you so much."

"A part of my body that I prefer not to mention is burning…" Decus complained in tears.

"If you had run faster I wouldn't have need to whip you so much, and my arm wouldn't be tired. This is all you fault!"

"I guess you are right." Decus answered ashamed. "You precious arm hurts and I was thinking of myself. Will you ever be able to forgive my selfishness?"

"Hmmmm… Maybe. But it won't be easy!"

Richter couldn't help but look ashamed. He couldn't believe how easy it was for Alice to control the purple-haired guy.

"I think that we have finally lost it." Aqua finally said.

"Yeah… That's what it seems." Alice said in a thinking voice. "But just in case…"

Richter looked annoyed, Aqua put a sorry face, Decus closed his eyes, and Alice smiled.

Slash!* Slash!* Slash!* Slash!* Slash!* Slash!* Slash!* Slash!* Slash!* Slash!* Slash!* Slash!* Slash!* Slash!* Slash!* Slash!* Slash!*

(…)

"I detect Solum's Core!" Aqua said to Richter. "I can feel its mana."

"Could you guide us?" Richter asked politely.

"Of course Master Richter."

Aqua guided the group where Solum's Core should be when they suddenly found a welcoming committee formed by a big group of gnomelettes.

"Ya'll stop now." One of them demanded lifting the palm of his hand. "Yar not allowed to go further."

"Yeah! Yeah!" All of them said in unison. "Not allowed."

"You are giving orders to me?" Alice asked annoyed.

"Alice stop!" Richter said. "We can't do anything unnecessary. Let's see what they have in mind."

"Unless…" The leader of the gnomelettes said. "You cook some curry for all of us."

"Yeah! Curry! Curry!" All the gnomelettes repeated.

"We don't have the ingredients to do it." Decus informed.

"We have everything ta do it!"

"OK. I'll do it." Decus said.

"NO!" All the gnomelettes said. "We want him to do it!" All of them said pointing to Richter.

Decus chuckled. "Him? He doesn't even know how to make a salad."

"I only burned it a little!" Richter said indignantly.

"As you wish." Decus said. "But I won't let the beautiful tongue of my beloved be raped by one of your culinary aborts."

Richter didn't even bother to reply. He took the cooking utensils and began to cook.

"Master Richter is better than you in anything else. Cooking won't be an exception."

"I don't need you to defend me Aqua." Richter answered in a monotone voice. "My cooking will talk for me."

"A cooking contest then!" Decus said taking a black apron and a black cook hat. "You will see the skills of the favorite apprentice of the Dark Chef! Prepare to be defeated by my funky cooking style!"

(Some minutes later.)

"How it is Alice? Do you like it?" Decus asked in a pleading voice.

Alice had to admit to herself that it was the most delicious curry she had ever eaten. And she didn't even like curry.

"I'm eating it! Isn't it enough?"

He had failed again.

"OK! The lunch is ready!" Richter shouted to the gnomelettes. "I guess this should be enough to let us pass."

"Yeah! Curry! Curry!"

All the gnomelettes jumped in the food and began to eat it like wild animals.

"Those things not only don't know who to talk." Aqua said looking disgusted the scene. "They don't even have manners. I've seen pigs eating in more civilized ways."

"Yeah… I've lost all of my appetite." Alice said, throwing carelessly the food aside.

"What matters here," Aqua said "is that Alice didn't like your curry Decus, and the gnomelettes loved Richter's. Which means…"

Decus looked down sadly.

"That Richter is the winner!" She shouted happily.

"Don't forget about the fact that it makes Decus the loser." Alice pointed.

Decus took his head with both hands and sat down. "Defeated by someone who burned a salad." He couldn't fall lower. He wasn't as good cook as him, he wasn't as good fighter as him, he wasn't as cool as him, he couldn't use magic like him, and he probably was hotter than him. Alice was right, he was a loser. And she deserved someone that wasn't a failure like him, someone better, someone like Richter.

But suddenly, a gnomelette began to moan, then another, and then another, and in a few seconds they were all moaning and rolling over the ground.

One of the little beings was able to stand up. "What have you--" But before it was able to end the sentence, it fell.

And suddenly, all the gnomelettes stopped moaning.

"How weird." Richter said to himself. "What could have gone wrong?"

Decus stop up and put a finger over the tiny chest of a gnomelette. "It's dead." He said looking down. "They are all dead." His voice seemed almost sad. "They didn't have a chance."

"They're all dead!" Aqua asked alarmed.

"Yeah." Decus said. "Do you know what that means…"

Aqua looked down sadly. "Yeah… It means that the world will never see the gnomelettes again. One of the oldest races in the world has been lost forever."

"It means that I'm the winner!" Decus shouted happily. "Yeah! I'm still the best cook in the world!"

Then he began to celebrate it with a weird victory dance moving his arms in circles as he walked backwards.

Alice looked half amused his weird celebration dance.

"Congratulations!" Alice said.

"Thank you my dear. I knew you would appreciate my--"

"Who are you talking to?" Alice said annoyed. "I was talking to Richter."

"Me?" The red-haired half-elf asked.

"Yeah!" She said, smiling and clapping. "You have just killed an entire species!"

"This isn't something to be proud about!" Richter shouted. "I have killed them!"

"You have made the gnomelettes disappear from this world. Of course is something to be proud about!" She said cheering. "Those things were really annoying."

Richter looked to both of them. Decus was still dancing and celebrating his so called victory, and Alice was smiling and kicking the corpses of the gnomelettes. Trying to talk with them would be a waste of time. They were a lost cause.

"Let's take Solum's Core and pretend that this never happen." He said.

"What? Your defeat?" Decus asked.

"Or your gnomeletticide?" Alice finished.

Richter murmured something inaudible and kept walking while Aqua followed him, giving the pair a look that could kill. Alice and Decus were both smiling.

(…)

"Here we are." Aqua said. "Solum's altar."

Then the four entered.

In the deepest part of the hall; a pedestal stood holding a golden, shining bud that was spreading ethereal balls which making a whisper like sounds, traveled all over the room leaving behind them a golden trail of sparks that were all over the cave.

As a half-elf, it was easy for Alice to sense the magi, and those little balls where full of it. Amazed by its beauty and power she tried to catch one of them, which was rolling around her, but it was in vain since as soon as she closed her hand it explode in a cloud of yellow mana and shinning sparks.

That wasn't overlooked by Decus, who soon tried to take one of those little spheres for her with the same disappointing results. But he wasn't going to give up so easily a chance to impress his beloved. Without thinking it twice he ran towards the Core to take it for her.

"Decus, don't!" Aqua shouted, but it was already too late. He had already taken it.

Soon all the ethereal spheres began to spinning around Decus.

"Hehe… Those little things seem to love me." He said to group.

"Decus!" Aqua shouted alarmed. "Throw it! Throw it now!"

All the spheres began to glow as they began to spin around Decus faster and faster imbuing him in a whirlwind of lights.

"What's going on?" Alice shouted to Aqua.

"Solum is defending himself!"

Decus seemed to be in a hypnotized state while he looked at Solum's Core.

"Damn! Decus, idiot! Throw it!" Alice said while running towards him. But before she was able to reach him, the spheres began to glow with such intensity that Alice was forced to close her eyes. "Decus! Throw it!"

Then an explosion sent Alice backwards, and smoke cloud completely covered the room.

"That idiot!" Richter said annoyed, coughing and waving his and. "Who told him to take it!"

"Decus! Decus!" Alice repeated with one hand covering her mouth and using the other to try to dissipate the cloud of white smoke. "Where are you!"

"Alice!" The blue-haired male voice shouted. "Here!"

Alice walked towards the voice.

"You idiot!" She said annoyed when she finally found him. "I'll kill you for this."

"I'm sorry Alice." He tried to explain. "I just wanted to take it for you."

"Hey." another voice that sounded like Decus shouted. "Stay away from her!"

And abruptly, when anyone expected it, a second Decus come out nowhere and jumped over the first one sending them both to the ground.

"What the…" Alice couldn't believe it. For a moment she had thought that she had seen two Decus. But due the smoke she couldn't verify if what she have just seen was right or her mind was toying with her.

"I can't see anything!" Richter said. "What's going on!"

Soon the red-haired man, casted a wind spell to remove completely the cloud revealing two Decus rolling and fighting over the ground.

"What were you planning to do to her." One of them shouted.

"Nothing! You bastard! Do you think you can trick my dear Alice!" The other replied.

"I would never try to trick her, you damn impostor! I don't know who you are but I'll kill you for that!"

"You can try to imitate me as much as you want but you'll never be able to match my charm!"

"Alice don't listen to him!" one of the Decus said to Alice, whose mouth was hanging wide open. "He is just trying to trick you!"

"Don't listen to this cheap copy. I'm the true one. Your Decus! Your beloved!"

"What the hell is going on!" Alice shouted annoyed at Aqua who was looking at them with the palm of the hand at her face.

"Solum has copied Decus. He has made a perfect copy of him. Skills, knowledge, memories, everything that Decus knew is also now in Solum's mind."

"Everything!" Alice asked scared. "Do you mean that everything that has happen in our life-- I mean in Decus' life, is now also in it's mind!"

"Yeah, everything." Aqua confirmed. "And to make it worst Solum has a weird sense of humor. He will pretend to be Decus until he kills him and will supplant him. Once supplanted, he will copy other of us and do the same over and over again. Until we kill him and make him be a core again, or until he kills us all."

"What kind of sense of humor is that?" Richter asked rhetorically. "Anyway… Can't you detect the element of its mana Aqua?" Richter asked. "He is an earth type. As a centurion you should be able to do it."

"I'm afraid I can't. He has also hidden its mana." Aqua answered ashamed. "He is really good at it."

"Don't worry Alice. I'll defeat him!" One of the Decus said.

"You? Defeat me! I won't be defeated in front of Alice twice in the same day!"

"You two!" Alice said annoyed. "STOP IT ALREADY!"

Both Decus stop fighting and bowed before Alice apologizing if their fight had annoyed her somehow.

"Then it is solved." Richter said coldly. "They will fight until death. If Decus wins we will take the Core. And if he dies," Richter took out his sword. "I'll defeat Solum before it copies anyone else."

Alice didn't like the idea. If it had copied Decus' skills, any of the two could win. And she didn't want to lose the only person she could trust, even if it was only a little. Ok, more than a little, but that wasn't what mattered at that moment.

"Not that I care…" Alice said randomly. "But there is nothing that we can do? I don't want to spend more time here. The fight could last a lot and I have a life too."

"We only can wait and have hope in Decus. Unless…" Aqua said in a thinking voice looking at Alice's eyes.

"Unless?" Alice asked making a _"hurry-up"_ movement with her hands.

"Unless you are able to differentiate the real Decus."

"Me!" Alice asked a bit blushed. "Why me!"

"Well…" Richter interfered. "You have been together a long time. So you should know him better than any of us."

"Just because I've spend almost all my life with him doesn't mean that I know him!" She answered in an offended voice. "I never cared about him! I don't know anything about him!"

"Then, all we can do is wait and look." Richter said looking at both Decus. But when he did he couldn't believe what he saw. They were kneeling, with their hands over the ground, looking down and complaining.

"Why? After all I have done for her… How can she be so cold."

"I could defeat you, you know? But my heart isn't in it… I don't feel like fighting right now."

"Oh my!" Richter exclaimed. "This will take forever! Alice do something!"

"OK, OK…" Alice said closing her eyes and waving her hand. "I think I have a way to discover who is the impostor."

"Really?" Both Decus asked in unison. "I knew you wouldn't fail me. Our bond… Is unbreakable!"

"You know Solum…" Alice said smiling to both Decus. "You made a bad choice choosing him if you thought that I would care." Then she aimed at them with her whip. "This will hurt you more than it will hurt me Decus."

"Alice what are you going to…"

"A season in hell!"

As soon as she shouted the spell, two rays hit both Decus electrocuting them.

"Alice stop it!" One of them shouted screaming in pain. "It hurts!"

"I beg you Alice, stop it!" The other one screamed.

Alice closed her eyes as she felt her eyes begin to wet. She hated to see him in pain. And the fact that it was she the one who was making him suffer, only made it worst. But she increased the intensity of the spell anyway. Making them scream more and more. She had to do it.

"Aliceee!" If he was going to die, even if it was going to be by the one he loved, he wanted her to know it. "I love you!"

Alice opened her eyes. She couldn't believe it.

"Damn fucking bitch!" The other Decus said. "YOU ARE CRAZY!"

Alice stopped the attack over the first one and concentrated all her rage over the second Decus, who clearly was Solum.

"DIEEEEEEE!"

As Alice shouted those words the death sentence was already on. A bright ray connected with over Solum blinding anyone who was careless enough to look at it directly.

"Impossible!" Richter shouted covering her eyes with his arm. "How can she release so much power! She is too young for that!"

When the blinding light faded, Richter look over where Solum should be. The only thing that was left was a pile of ashes and it is core. Alice had done it.

"I knew she would recognize me." Decus said moaning and chuckling over the ground in an almost breathless voice.

"_Denying the truth until the end."_ Richter thought.

"Decus!" Alice ran over Decus. "Idiot! Why did you do that?" She said kneeling towards him and beginning to heal his wounds.

That took Richter completely off ward. He didn't spec Alice to do that. And could detect something weird in Alice's voice, in every word, in every insult; was it… care?

Richter took the core and kept walking out of the hall as Aqua followed him. It was clear that he didn't know Alice as good as he thought.

"Shouldn't we wait for them?" Aqua asked.

"I don't think they need us." Richter said as he heard Decus laughs followed by the sound of a slap.

"What a pair of weirdos." Aqua said looking at them. "What kind of relationship is that?"

"I don't know, and I'm afraid that I don't want to understand it." Richter said examining Solum's Core as he left.

**(…)**

**(…)**

**(…)**

_Translator:_

_-__ Ein normaler Tag: A normal day._

**And remember. **_**Review**_** this chapter to show me your support. If you do, you will get a long DecusxAlice new fic in exchange. Is not a bad deal if you like this pair, isn't it? So give me your support to give me reasons to keep writing about these awesome characters and their twisted relationship.**


	6. Sturm und Drang

_**Sturm und Drang**_

**I am not sure if this chapter is interesting or not. I will leave that decision to the readers, feel free to review it giving me your impressions.**

**(…)**

**(…)**

**Tethe'alla. Meltokio.**

Decus was running in the streets of Meltokio from side to side without really knowing where he was going. He had always had a bad sense of orientation, and the fact that almost all the houses looked the same didn't make it easier for him. From the rich district to the slums, from the slums to the half class neighbourhood and from the half class neighbourhood to the slums again, it was beginning to get annoying.

"You must be kidding me!" He said as he stopped to take a break and breathe some air.

To make it worse, everybody in the town was giving him weird looks. Probably because he had no one else other than Seles Wilder, the only sister of the Chosen, over his shoulder. Luckily for him he was disguised as Lloyd Irving so anyone could recognize him.

"Idiot!" Alice shouted when she found him. "What are you doing there! Over here!"

Decus stopped, leaving a trail of dust under his feet and quickly ran towards his beloved who was landing with Aramis in an apparently unfrequented street.

"Why did it take you so long!" Alice asked annoyed as she helped Decus to put the unconscious body of Seles over Aramis.

"This town is a labyrinth. All the streets are the same!" He explained to his mate.

"Meh, you just have no sense of orientation."

Decus climbed over Aramis, took a handle that was hanging down from the saddle, and put one foot into other that was below.

"I swear to you Alice," Decus continued as Aramis took flight. "This town was made with the purpose of confusing newcomers."

"Whatever, let's just get out of here. Did you make sure that people saw you as Lloyd?"

"Of course my dear!"

"Don't call me that while you are in that form." Alice complained, disgusted by the sight of the brown haired swordsman. "I can't stand that guy. Just imagining him calling me dear makes me feel like vomiting."

"Oh yeah. Sorry, I completely forgot about that." Effortlessly using Solum's Core, he recovered his normal body. "Do I look better now my dear?"

"Just as bad as usual."

"I will take that as a compliment." He said smiling.

"Are you so dumb that you can't even understand an insult?" He just smiled at her as if everything was right. As if anything she could say to him would ever change his mind, or his heart. "You are a lost cause." She sighed.

**Tethe'alla. Cape Fortress.**

Alice entered followed by Decus, who was carrying the unconscious body of their hostage in the ruined fortress that once was the hub of the Vanguard activities. Alice didn't know why Brute choose that ruined place as the hub of the Vanguard. Even if the dependences of the leaders of the divisions were fine the rest of the building was crashing under its own foundations. Thank Martel they eventually moved to a better place.

Their mission was easy. Kidnap the sister of the Chosen and carry her to their old fortress along with the Core. And using her as a bait Marta won't have any other option than give them Ratatosk's Core.

"Wha- What!" The pink-haired girl said, recovering consciousness. "Where am I?"

Her voice sounded sleepy and by the way she was looking around it seemed that she didn't know what was going on.

"We have kidnapped you to use you as in an exchange-" but his speech was soon cut off by a sharp poke in his stomach.

"Decus! What kind of secret agent are you!" Alice asked, quite annoyed. "You aren't supposed to talk with the hostages."

"Oh- Yeah, I apologize for that."

Decus and Alice finally reached a big chamber decorated the same as the rest of the building. Decus took carefully the body of the girl that he had been carrying and sat her on a high stone step.

Seles was still holding her head trying to recover from the trance. Decus came close to her, curious as to her state. She looked at him and then suddenly went backwards, covering her face (as well as nose) with her hand.

"Hahaha!" Decus laughed proudly. "Another victim of my beauty! But I am sorry, little girl, even if I find you cute you can't be compared to my dearest Alice."

"What are you talking about?" Seles asked, recovering her position.

"Don't worry little princess. Even though I know that you won't ever know someone as beautiful and charming as me I'm quite sure that you will find someone for you."

"Oh my, You are a smelly version of my brother."

"Hehehe. Sure he is." Alice said while she cleaned the dust of her clothes, not really playing attention to Seles.

Seles turned the look to the girl. Yellow dress, white-blonde hair, a crimson belt attached at her leg, yellow eyes... "AAAAH! Y- you- you-" She repeated, scared and unable to finish her sentence as she pointed to Alice with a finger. "You are that girl! The sadist! Alice of the Vanguard!"

"Hey!" Decus protested annoyed. "Don't you dare use a disrespectful word such as 'sadist' when you talk about my lovely Alice! She is the kindest girl in the world!"

"Shut it, Dumbo." She looked to the pink haired girl, and with a kind smile she put the tip of her toy rapier under the chin of the young Seles. "And you- Could you please tell me who am I?"

Seles was scared, she had heard histories about her, about how she was able to flay completely the whole body of a person with only a few swings of her whip.

"You- You are Alice." She answered, scared. "The leader of the fighting squadron of the Vanguard."

Alice lifted her toy rapier in a threatening position. Seles closed her eyes and covered her face ready to receive the incoming pain. But it never came. Instead, Alice patted her head softly.

"Good girl, good girl." She said as if she was talking to an obedient dog. "It seems that my reputation precedes me."

Decus couldn't help but give a jealous look at the young girl.

"What- What do you plan to do to me?" She asked, unsure. "Will you- Will you drink my blood?" As soon as she asked she became scared again, she didn't know where that question came from, but she was sure that it wasn't a good idea to ask her that.

Luckily for her, Alice was in good mood. "Drink your blood? Why should I drink your blood?"

"I have- I have heard rumours."

"What kind of rumours?" She asked, intrigued.

Afraid of what could happen to her if she didn't answer, Seles decided to say what she had heard about her. "I- I have heard that you are older than how you claim to be and that you kill young virgins girls to drink their blood and keep your youth!"

Alice became red. "What! I am as young as I claim to be! Who is babbling all then no sense about me? I am the Cute Little Alice!" The tone of her voice changed into a childish one as she said the last three words.

"Alice-" Decus stood up and walked towards Alice.

Seles watched the mad girl with fear. If she wanted to get out of that situation without any scratch she should better say something flattering to her.

"Of course you're not." Seles said trying to look friendly, "That's what other people say about you. Not me! I don't believe those lies!" She lied. "You are a cute little girl."

Alice turned her face to Seles, and ruthlessly she whipped the face of the young girl. "Don't ever try to fool me. I'm not an idiot that you can buy with nice words." She looked to Decus. "And you! Don't take a further step."

Decus lowered his head and sat at his place.

Seles rubbed her pained face. She had paid for her hypocrisy, it was obvious that she wasn't going to win anything with nice words so she should better shut up and try to avoid any conversation with that girl. It was at that moment when she noticed something. Behind a pillar a familiar swords man dressed in a red suit was making indications to her to stay quiet. Lloyd seemed to be waiting to the best moment to ambush them both. She smiled and waited.

Decus and Alice didn't know what was coming to them. In any moment Lloyd would step out from the shadows and kill her kidnapers before they were able to know what happened.

"You two!" Lloyd shouted "Free Seles right now!"

Seles looked open-mouthed Lloyd who wasted the perfect chance to rescue her and finish them.

"Lloyd! What is he doing here!" Alice exclaimed, putting herself behind Seles and using her as a human shield. "Anyway, this is perfect! We will take his Cores too."

"Like I would let you!" Without wasting more words, Lloyd unsheathed his swords and ran towards them, ready to fight.

"Decus, finish him!" Alice commanded as she put her whip under Seles' chin.

Decus took the two swords he used to commit all the murders in Palmacosata and Flanoir, and parried Lloyd's first attack. He would have preferred to use his own sword and fight him in his own style but he couldn't reach his Iron-Maiden in time so he would have to deal with it. But it didn't take him a lot of time to notice that if he kept fighting Lloyd in his own style he was going to lose. He was able to defend himself, but Lloyd was too fast for him and he wasn't really used to fighting with two swords. Murder a helpless person was one thing, fight a skilled sword man other.

"If I lose, his next target will be Alice." Decus thought as he barely dodged another attack. "Alice is a good fighter, but without her pets she doesn't have any distraction when she casts her spells. I have to do something."

"Stop defending yourself and attack, idiot!" Alice shouted impatiently. "It seems that I have to do it all by myself! May the merciless embrace of frost-" But she was forced to interrupt the incarnation of her spell to stop Seles, who tried to run away. "Stay quiet, damn brat!"

"I can't help Decus if I can't concentrate." She thought as she watched the fight helplessly, she hated to feel useless.

Decus had an idea and using Solum's Core, took Lloyd's shape.

"So I was right!" Lloyd exclaimed, struggling against Decus' swords. "You were the one who killed all those innocent people! I will make you pay for that!"

"Innocent people? What nonsense! There are no innocent people in this world!" Then he put his plan into action."Did you know what was the best part?" Decus asked, chucking. "The look on their faces before they were killed by their hero."

"Bastard!"

Decus ran away to other chamber followed by an irate Lloyd. "At least I will be able to keep him away from Alice!"

"Don't run away!" Lloyd shouted, following him.

"What are you doing Dumbo-Decus!" Alice shouted. "Fight! Damn coward! Fight!" Every word pierced Decus heart like a sharp dragger but he had to keep Lloyd as far as he could from her.

Alice didn't understand why Decus suddenly decided to run away. He wasn't the kind of person who ran away, not anymore anyway. She decided to follow him to see what was going on, though Seles didn't collaborate as much as she would have liked to, and it took her more time than necessary. Once she reached the chamber, she saw three expected visitants asking things to Decus. Marta, Emil and Zelos were already there.

Using Seles as a hostage and threatening to wound her badly forced Marta to give her their Cores. Sure, it wouldn't be as fun as get them by force after killing them, but she would get want she wanted. But as was usual to her, things never worked as she planed, and just in the moment she lowered her guard for a second as Marta came to give The Cores, Sheena came out from nowhere and pushed her hard enough to throw her to the ground. When she stood up, scratching her head, she only saw how Sheena and Colette were taking her hostage. She couldn't lose her, she wasn't prepared to stand other of Richter's rants about her failures. Besides, at that moment, that useless girl was the only thing stopping the so-called heroes of regeneration to attack them. But she hurried so much to catch the girl that didn't notice how her steps were followed by almost all the gang. Luckily for her, even if she didn't notice, her back was being saved by Decus, who was fast enough to stop Zelos, Emil and Marta.

"Don't you dare interfere with my little beautiful Alice!" He said using his Iron-Maiden to help him block the path.

"Who's going to stop us?" Zelos confidently asked. "You can't even put on cologne without screwing it up!"

"Who you think you are to give advice about colognes?" Decus shouted annoyed. "Look at yourself. Pink? That's so last year. You have no fashion sense at all! You have no right to criticize my cologne!"

"Tasteless? This is silk you know! You wouldn't recognize fashion sense even if it slapped you in front of your face." Then Zelos began to describe Decus' clothes. "A white jacked with black feathers, a t-shirt that shows your chest, black gloves, a golden bracelet, black pants, a belt tied to the leg, sneakers- Oh, and the best part, a dog leash. Do you call that fashion sense? You're a freak!"

"It's called nonconformist style!" Decus said, blushing and readjusting the leash. "And Alice loves it!"

"Haha! Do you mean that girl that told you to shut up a few seconds ago?" Zelos taunted. "You are blind."

"You know nothing about us!"

"You are just jealous because I can get as many girls as I want, and you can't even get one."

"Alice is much more than one of your groupies. A novel pimp like you would never understand someone as pure as her!"

"Is that so?" Zelos asked rhetorically. "If I remember well she told me that she was going to do me a favour." He said, winking an eye to make him notice the double meaning of the quote. "Didn't she, Marta?"

Marta nodded, ashamed.

Decus opened his Iron-Maiden and took out his enormous sword. "I will finish you for that lie! No one speaks ill about my dear Alice and leaves alive."

But it seemed that Zelos hasn't finished yet. "Is that your sword? Are you trying to compensate for anything? No wonder why she prefers me."

"Shut up!" Decus screamed, strongly gripping his sword. "You are just like them! But I'm not weak anymore! I won't let you insult my pride!"

Then without alert, Emil appeared behind him. "You are mine!" But Decus reacted faster than he expected to and parried his attack. "How could he move so fast with such a heavy sword?"

"Attacking from behind in the middle of a conversation! How impolite!" Decus said, noticing that his eyes were no longer green, but red. "I see; Richter was right about you."

Emil jumped backwards and began to charge energy in his sword. "I have no reason to give explanations to scum like you. THIS IS OVER!" And with those words he waved his sword in the air releasing a ball of energy. Decus tried to block with his sword. "It's useless," the ball exploded at the contact against Decus' sword releasing an enormous amount of energy. The dust cloud it raised along with the wind forced everyone to close their eyes and cover their faces. If Decus had survived that he would be too badly wounded to keep fighting.

When the dust cloud rested they couldn't believe what they saw. Decus was still standing over his own feet in the same defensive position he took that seconds ago was used to protect himself from the attack.

"Impossible. Even if he blocked it, it's impossible." Emil said in disbelief.

But soon his suspects became real. Decus drop his sword and fell over his own knees unable to stand up anymore.

"Aaaaaaaah!" Decus shouted, full of rage. He had been defeated in one blow. He felt pathetic. He wasn't able to keep his word, he wasn't able to protect Alice.

Emil approached Decus and pushed him backwards using his feet. He wanted answers and he was going to get them no matter what. But then, when he was about to begin the interrogation he noticed something on the ground, a picture. Moved by the curiosity he knelt and took it. His blood began to boil when he saw who was in that picture, it was no one other than Alice, and for some reason she seemed quite happy.

"Give it to me." Decus managed to say from the ground, lifting a trembling arm. "Give it back to me."

**(…)**

_Decus was waiting for Alice to come, after all it was an special day, it was their anniversary, and every year they celebrated the day they met each other. And they have been secretly celebrating it every year since they met each other twelve years ago. _

_Finally Alice came, and he, as always, was waiting for her with a big smile. But she didn't seem happy. It wasn't as if she had been going with a big smile to their last anniversaries, but her annoyed face was unusual. He soon discovered the reason of her annoyance- at just a few steps backwards was Marta smiling proudly. _

_"Alice! Did something wrong happen?"_

_Alice didn't answer him. She just kept walking and ignored Decus, who followed her to her chamber. _

_"Damn spoiled brat! Bunch of idiots!" Alice shouted as soon as she entered in her room, closing the door behind her and almost hitting Decus with it. "Who thinks she is to giver orders to me!" She complained, lying on the couch._

_"Did something happen with Marta?" Decus asked, taking a seat close to her but keeping the distances._

_"She is always in my way! She is powerless and yet she is always interfering. She has no right to interfere. Spoiled brat- If her father wasn't the commander she would be licking her own tears under my feet right now." She clenched her fists. "It was a routine day in Asgard when a guy began to speak ill about the Vanguard. I couldn't let him do whatever he wanted and so I hit him over and over again until other guy pushed me. He pushed me! Who the hell he thought he was! My soldiers took him quickly and then I called all the town to show them what happens to those who attack me. I ordered to execute the guy. But my stupid soldiers didn't seem to like the idea at all so I took the crossbow from one of them and shoot myself the arrow. You should have seen their faces… It was priceless, but I missed. And just when I was about to shoot the second arrow Mart-Mart come from nowhere and put herself between me and the guy. I should have killed her and say that it was a mistake."_

_"I see- But you shouldn't worry about it that much." Decus said as he waited like a waiter next to the table. "She is powerless after all, one day something will happen, and then, she won't be ready as we are."_

_"I know, I just wish I had a chance to do it myself. I want her to know how pathetic she is. It's not fair that she has more authority than me without doing anything to get it! I hate her and that idiot of her father."_

_"Alice." Decus took her tea set and filled a cup for her. "This is our anniversary. You shouldn't worry about meaningless things like Marta." Decus said, smiling to her. "You are a powerful girl that has all you want because of your own effort and nothing will ever change that, not Brute, Marta or the Vanguard."_

_"I guess you're right for once- Did you make cakes?" She asked as she added three sugar tablespoons._

_Decus smiled and put a plate full of heart-shaped cakes over the table._

_Alice began to eat the cakes, not without breaking each sweet in a half before ate it._

_"Well, what have you bought me?" She asked as she took a sip of tea. "The sooner we end with this the better."_

_Decus took out a box with a pink tie and gave it to her. Alice tore the bundle completely and opened the box. Inside it, it has two golden bracelets. She loved them, but she wasn't going to show her appreciation._

_"What's this?" She asked, taking one and putting it on her wrist._

_"It's a golden handcuff." Decus said, smiling and putting the other on his wrist. "It means that whatever you do, wherever you go, I will be always with you, no matter what."_

_It looked lovely, and she really liked it. To know that she could count on someone else no matter what was almost unbelievable, but if there was a person that could keep that it was Decus. But then again, her fears got in the way. "Meh, at least it's made of gold. I'm sure I will be able to sell it for a good price." She said still wearing it and taking a closer look. "Well, now it's time for my present. Close your eyes."_

_Decus closed his eyes impatiently, waiting for his present. He wished it was a kiss in the lips. That would have been the best present she could give to him. But instead he felt something being tightened around his neck. Once she finished, she told him to open his eyes. He turned back to look himself to a mirror. She had tied a blue dog leash around his neck. It looked wonderful._

_"It fits you, don't you think?" She said smiling._

_"Sure it does."_

_"Anyway, I have to punish my soldiers. You could aid me with the punishment. Just stay back, do only what I tell you to do, and don't mention anything about this. I think people are getting the wrong idea about us. "_

_"That we are quite close?" Decus said following her with a smile in his mouth._

_"Exactly! And I don't want anyone to get to wrong idea. We are not that close. Lets go Decus."_

_An hour later, a soldier was lying over the ground, his back full of open wounds and Alice standing over him with her whip dripping in blood. All the soldiers looked scared of the scene. They were to afraid to do anything but tremble. The last one who opened his mouth was lying KO over the ground by due to a Decus punch for interrupting Alice. She called it discipline, but it clearly was torture._

_"Well, well, well," Alice said, smiling like a little girl who was having fun. "I hope that everything is clear now. You have no will. You don't think for yourself. You are here to do what I want you to do. Follow these steps and everything will be fine. But if you don't, well, Accidents happen."_

_Decus smiled happily, he always smiled happily when he saw her like that, happy. He liked to see her happy. Back in the time, at the orphanage, she almost never smiled. Tears were constantly running down her face back then; her parents were dead, and everybody abused and insulted her just for being alive, just for being born. That was the reason why he liked to see her smile, for whatever reason it was, it didn't matter, he just didn't want to see her sad ever again. And that's why he appreciated those few moments like the last drops of a summer rain. Because she deserved her happiness._

_He took his camera and took a picture of her when she looked towards him. Alice didn't seem to mind it._

_She then got off the back of the soldier. "Now be good boys and carry this waste of soldier to the nursing before I decide to feed him to my pets."_

_She waited until the last soldier left to talk to Decus._

_"What are you doing with that picture? Putting it in your useless charm?" In her voice could be detected the selfish feeling of having to have someone that couldn't life without her._

_"I think I will keep it to myself to remember this day." Decus said smiling. "Your smile will give me strength."_

_"You are insane." Alice left and began to walk away. It didn't take her a lot to notice that Decus wasn't following her. She turned her head and saw him putting her picture in a pocket of his jacket. "Aren't you going to come Decus?"_

_"Uh?"_

_"I still want to drink some tea and eat some sweets."_

_"Oh! Of course. My humblest apologies Alice." Decus said bowing. "When you arrive, I will have it all ready for you." _

**(…)**

"Please," Decus begged as he used his last forces to sit and support his back against the wall. "Give it back to me."

"Why should I want this disgusting picture? This girl makes me sick!" And with those words he threw the picture away and burned it.

Decus tried to rise up but the pain didn't let him. He crawled to take the burning picture. He tried to extinguish the fire, but it was too late, the upper part of the picture, her face, her smile, was gone, burned.

Decus lowered his face and made a choked noise, a noise that wasn't unnoticed by Ratatosk.

"Oh my. Don't tell me that you're going to cry."

"Emil!" Marta said.

Decus, ashamed covered his face and kept crying.

"What a baby boy!" Ratatosk said, smiling. "I'm even ashamed to beat someone as pathetic as you."

"Emil! He's been defeated, you don't need to do that!" Marta said, feeling sorry for Decus.

"He is a murderer!" Ratatosk shouted. "And I'm not done with him." Then he looked to Decus. "And that's nothing." Decus could hear the voice of all the kids of the orphanage as Emil talked to him. _"Once we take that bitch we will show her what is good! She will regret the day she was born."_

"EMIL!" Marta shouted angry. "STOP IT! WE ARE NOT LIKE THEM!"

"He killed my parents!" Ratatosk shouted to Marta. "He deserves whatever happens to him. And so does that bitch!"

Concentrating on the rant, no one noticed Decus, whose tears of sadness had become tears of rage. With one hand he took his sword, and with the other grabbed the ground under him as he slowly lifted himself up. All the room began to heat up. It became so hot so suddenly that it was impossible not to notice that something was wrong.

Ratatosk locked to Decus who was upright looking to the ground. "Do you still want more?" He asked.

Marta didn't like what was going on.

Zelos looked to the ground. "What!" The ground bellow him was beginning to crack, a purple burning gas was coming from the ground cracking the soil to spread out.

Soon the purple mist that it had formed began to whirl round Decus feet.

"What the hell is that?" Ratatosk thought. "That's not Solum's power. No Centurion has this power. What the hell is this?"

"EMIL!" Marta shouted scared. She saw that once in the past. "RUN!"

"I'm not going to-" His answer was cut when he heard a loud scream coming behind him. He was barely able to dodge the vertical slash that was followed by a horizontal one which he parried, sending him flying against the wall.

He lifted his head to see Decus running towards him screaming with all his lungs. Decus took the sword with both hands and gripped it strongly, even if it only made him to hold it tighter. Using all his forces he made a circular blow that cracked the wall were Ratatosk was supported. Ratatosk dodged the lethal blow, throwing himself sideways and falling over his shoulder. He watched in horror the broken wall.

"Impossible." Ratatosk thought, scared. "A mere human can't have that power!"

"I WON'T LET ANYONE HURT ALICE!" Decus screamed, launching two diagonal cuts meant more to threaten than to wound.

Ratatosk got up and jumped backwards, taking a defensive position. He knew that parrying Decus' sword wasn't a good idea but the pressure didn't let him think of a better plot.

Decus blew quickly his sword three times horizontally, almost managing to disarm Ratatosk and making him lose balance, giving Decus an open spot. He lifted his sword and concentrated his last forces in a last vertical blow. As a last resort Ratatosk used his power to try to counter Decus' attack. And it worked, he managed to parry his attack and began a duel of swords, but Decus had such a strength that it forced him to kneel over one leg.

Ratatosk's sword began to crack. "Damn!"

The purple mist began to whirl around Decus' feet once again.

Ratatosk looked into his eyes. Two cold eyes in pain that longed for revenge.

"ALICEEE!"

A purple column of fire rose up, taking both inside and shattering the Cape fortress' roof as illuminated the hall with a pink blinding light.

Marta tried to run towards Emil. "Emil!" But was intercepted by Zelos who tried to protect them both with his shield.

"Are you crazy!"

She didn't answer. She escaped from Zelos' protective embrace behind his shield and began to cast an incarnation.

"Gods of healing, bless those that stand before you. Grant me the righteous power to vanquish evil! RADIANT ROAR!"

An intense spark of light fused with the purple column of fire that disappeared in a few seconds, revealing two bodies. But only one of them had aid at that moment.

"Emil! Are you okay!" Marta asked as she began to heal his wounds.

"Thank you Marta." Emil said, lifting himself up with help from Zelos. He was clearly much better than Decus, who was still trying to stand up, thanks to Marta's mystic arte.

Decus cursed himself. After all he wasn't able to defeat Emil and he had lost Glacies' Core. If they managed to reach Alice she would be in serious problems. He couldn't avoid them, but chuckle. There he was, at the mercy of his enemies along with the person whose parents were killed by him and he was thinking about Alice. He really must be as idiot as Alice said.

But before his enemies were able to put one more finger over him Richter attacked and decided to recover the Core.

"Decus! Leave." He ordered.

"Thank you."

**(…)**

Alice was in troubles, in real ones. She had managed to reach Seles, but soon almost all the heroes of regeneration managed to reach her, and now she was at a big numeric disadvantage. She had been careless, and now she was paying her mistake. She was in an impasse and her enemies were coming closer to her. She had managed to keep it cool and calm, but that was just an act. She didn't want them to know that she had fear, because if they would be able to notice her fear they would attack her without doubts. She had to make them think that she still had an ace in the hole. The smallest error in her act and she would pay for it.

They were advancing slowly in a defensive stance. Alice stepped backwards while she tried to threaten them. But she didn't know for how long her void threats and her apparent self-confidence would last.

"It's over Alice!" Lloyd shouted to her. "There is no escape and you are surrounded."

"Oh my, what am I going to do?" She said in a childish voice. "Would a hero like you wound a defenceless little girl like me?"

"Your tricks are useless, Alice of the Vanguard! I know who you are, and you won't trick me with that. Give us your cores and you might leave this place alive."

Alice frowned, annoyed. Even if it was obvious, her 'cute little girl' acting usually worked enough to make people think twice about do anything against her. This time it didn't. Things couldn't be worse, everything was going on as planned. But she was wrong, it could be worse. Zelos, Emil and Marta arrived.

If they were there, that could only mean that Decus had been defeated or worse. A chill crossed her back as the worst possible scenario crossed her mind, but she soon removed those thoughts from her mind. Decus was too stubborn to let himself be killed by two brats and the Chosen. And she still had a real problem to keep thinking about.

She was surrounded by the entire gang. She needed a miracle. If she believed in Martel she would have asked for a guardian angel to show up and help her, but the thought of asking something like that to an imaginary god in a situation like that was dumb. But thenÉ

"Someone's coming!" One of them said looking upstairs.

Alice looked where they all were looking and smiled. Martel had a weird sense of humour if she existed, it was no one else than Decus and he didn't come alone, he had brought Aramis with himself. She graved the stirrup of the saddle and with the aid of Aramis she landed in the safest spot, aside Decus. She knew that if anything happened, Decus would get in the way.

But it wasn't over, if Mart-Mart was there it meant that she still had Ratatosk's Core with her.

"Mart-Mart, come back to the Vanguard. If you bring back Ratatosk's core, Commander Brute will forgive you." Alice said, trying to convince her. "If you're able to see him of course, because as soon as you come with us I will open your skull against a rock and take it by force." She thought.

"No way! I'll never go back! I took Ratatosk's core on purpose to stop Daddy's foolish ambition once and for all."

That annoyed Alice. "Nobody likes a strong willed little girl." It seemed that she wasn't going to convince her by words, and trying to fight all of them to get it was a suicide strategy, a fun show to watch if she had some soldiers along with her, but she didn't have any. "All right, Decus, let's go." She commanded to him even if she wasn't his superior.

"I'll follow you to the end of the world!" He said, giving a last glance to Emil and the rest of the group.

"Why did it take you so long to come?" Alice asked, trying to sound annoyed to hide the worry.

"You already know the answer, don't you my dear?" Decus said, closing his eyes and smiling proudly. "The hero always arrive in the last second."

"…" Alice gave him an unimpressed gaze.

"It would have broken the dramatic climax!" He tried to justify.

"…" The unimpressed gaze got colder.

"I-"

"…" Colder.

"Okay, okay. I lost the fight against those three and I couldn't leave until Richter came to help me."

"Did Richter help you? Great! Now I will have to stand his gaze of superiority once again."

"I am sorry- I did my best, but I couldn't win and I lost Glacies' Core."

"Did you lose it?" Alice asked alarmed.

"Yeah, but I doubt it matters. Does it matter? I mean- All we want is Ratatosk's Core. We only want the rest of the Cores to keep Brute busy until we can betray him. The loss of a Core isn't an issue at all is it?"

"When you lost the core- Did you feel anything weird?" Alice asked, trying her best not to sound worried.

"Of course not." Richter said from behind them. "But you two failed again."

Alice gave him a death gaze. "Again? I saw Marta quite alive, did something stop you from killing her?" She said as she climbed on Aramis.

"That's not your duty. You had to get Ratatosk's Core. I wonder if this alliance does worth it. You two haven't done anything useful for me yet. I hope that you don't fail me again."

Alice frowned. It annoyed her more than anything else to have to stand his haughtiness over and over again, as if he was better than her. But if she wanted to get ultimate power she had to stand it. Even if she hated to admit it, he was a powerful ally.

"It was my fault, not Alice's. I am the only one to blame." Decus intervened, taking all the blame to avoid Alice being ashamed.

"You have no pride." Richter said harshly.

"I can't let something so superfluous get in the way."

That quote seemed to annoy Richter more than expected. He had been put in his place by Decus and that made Alice smile.

"Whatever. Just don't repeat it again." He said, trying to keep it cool.

"I won't." Decus finished, giving him a military salute.

"Climb on, Decus." She said smiling to her loyal partner who climbed on Aramis. "There is no place for you here Richter, you will have to walk." She said as she left the place flying on the beast along with Decus. "Sorry for 'failing' you again. I won't repeat it." She said as she left, enjoying Richter's enraged face. "Ha, ha, Have a fun trip."

Decus looked at her smile and took out his pocket camera, zoomed in on her face and took a picture.

Perfect!

**(…)**

**Special thanks to Tomoko for giving me the main idea to do this chapter.**


End file.
